


The Girl That Time Forgot

by Havoka



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, every slang term Hana uses for humans was stolen from the 1995 Casper movie, ghost au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-07
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2018-11-08 03:35:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 51,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11073234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Havoka/pseuds/Havoka
Summary: Satya and Fareeha are excited to move into their new home together, until they discover that the quaint old house comes with its own attention-seeking teenage poltergeist.





	1. Home

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! This is a little fic I decided to write after seeing a writing prompt about ghosts. It's definitely going to be more light-hearted than Post-Apocalypse Punk, though it IS a ghost AU so there will be touches of angst. :P
> 
> To clear up any potential confusion, this is set in an alternate universe, and in this AU Fareeha and Satya live largely "normal" lives (aka Satya is not bending reality and Fareeha's day job isn't flying around with a rocket launcher). Also in this universe Hana lived much closer to our present time, because I feel like her slang and style fits more in the mid-2010s than in the 2070s and I wanted to make use of that, lol. 
> 
> If you like it please don't hesitate to leave even a short comment! It really helps inspire me to keep writing.

It was a beautiful little retreat – a simple but elegant old house by a lake, surrounded by nothing but peaceful quietness. Neither of them could believe how affordable it had been, and with seemingly no suspicious problems like leaking pipes, mice, or mold. The only explanation Satya could think of for the low price was the fact that it was a long way from any other houses or buildings, which meant trips into town would be full-day outings. Satya hardly minded. It was nice to be inaccessible sometimes.

The first thing she and Fareeha did after moving their things inside was christen the couch. With a contented sigh Fareeha flopped down onto its worn cushions. Satya crawled on top of her and smiled down at her lover. “This is so much better than the apartment,” Fareeha said as she returned Satya’s smile. She reached up and stroked Satya’s cheek with her calloused but tender fingers.

Satya leaned down and kissed her forehead. “No more loud music from the neighbors.”

“No more 2AM door slamming from that couple across the hall.”

“No more of that old woman on the first floor asking us when she is going to meet our husbands.”

They both got a laugh out of that.

“So I guess we should start unpacking stuff other than just the couch,” Fareeha said as she cast a glance around at all the boxes stacked up in the living room around them.

“I suppose you’re right.” Satya planted a light kiss on Fareeha’s lips. “But…perhaps we have just a few more minutes?”

That was all the encouragement Fareeha needed. She wrapped her arms around Satya’s waist and pulled her down, the two of them giggling as they kissed some more.

* * *

 

The house had two floors, but each individual room was very small. It felt as though it had been built perhaps only for a single occupant.

The bedroom was located upstairs, at the end of a lengthy hallway. It was painted a neutral white and had some plain blue curtains covering generic-looking windows. As Satya investigated the room she discovered a few paint flaws beneath one windowsill. The white paint there didn’t entirely cover the previous color – which turned out to be a bizarre neon pink. _Bright pink walls?_ She made a face. _How garish._ No wonder someone had tried to cover it up.

Other than a few fixable imperfections the room seemed ready to move into. A tiny giggle bubbled up in her throat as the reality continued to sink in. _This is our house. Our home. We actually own a house together now._ She covered her mouth with one hand and made a tiny squealing sound. “This is our house,” she said aloud, reveling in the sound of it.

Suddenly the recessed lighting overhead flickered. Startled out of her reverie, Satya glanced up at the now-dimmed lights in the ceiling. _Faulty wiring? Great._ She knew the perfect little house had to be hiding _some_ flaws.

Before she could call downstairs to Fareeha about it, the lights returned to their normal brightness. _How odd. I suppose we will have to have an electrician take a look at that if it continues._

The sound of footsteps a minute later alerted her to Fareeha climbing the stairs to join her, a box under each arm. “Hey, so everything looks fine, right?” she asked Satya. “No bug infestations? No human remains in the closet?”

Satya chuckled. “Fear not. I cleared them out.”

“Oh, good. I have a lot of stuff to pack in there.”

As Fareeha headed for the bedroom closet, Satya cleared her throat. “In seriousness, however, the lighting did dim at one point. That should probably be noted.”

“Okay. Noted.” She opened the closet door, glanced about inside of it, then set the two boxes down inside of it. “Everything on the first floor seems fine, except there’s one room that kind of has a weird smell. It’s not too strong, though. I think we’ll be able to get rid of it with one of those air freshener sprays.”

Satya wrinkled her nose. “What does it smell like?”

“Kinda like something, uh, died in there. Like I said though it’s not real strong, so it was probably a long time ago. Maybe an animal got in and couldn’t find its way back out.”

“Or perhaps it was the previous inhabitant.”

“Jeez, Satya, lighten up a l–”

The lights flickered again, a deep _thrumming_ sound resonating through the tiny room from the changing electricity levels. Satya and Fareeha exchanged a look.

“Hey, you, uh…” Fareeha hesitated. “You don’t believe in ghosts right?”

“Um, yes. I do.”

Fareeha stared straight ahead. “Me too.”

With a _whirr_ the power cut out completely, leaving them in the pitch dark. Fareeha grabbed Satya and clung to her. “Oh God, we bought a haunted house! Now we’re gonna die like a white family in a horror movie!”

“Fareeha, don’t be ridiculous.” Satya held tightly to her lover’s arm. “…Neither of us is white.”

“I know, but still–”

The lights powered back on.

Both women sighed with relief. Then, after exchanging a look, they both chuckled a bit.

“I did not know you were afraid of ghosts.” Satya patted Fareeha’s hand. “Here I thought you weren’t afraid of anything.”

“I’m not.” Fareeha’s voice was still shaking a little. “I was – I was scared for _you_. Didn’t want you to be in danger.”

Satya fixed her with a small, smug smile. “Oh, of course, dear. Thank you for looking out for me.”

“Don’t thank me, Ma’am. I’m just doing my job.”

Satya nudged her aside. “I am sure the problem here is just faulty wiring. We were foolish to work ourselves up like that.”

“Heh, yeah.” Fareeha massaged the back of her neck. “So c’mon, help me unpack these boxes. Then I’ll look into finding a local electrician or something.”

* * *

 

A tiny smile graced Satya’s face as she unpacked the mini hologram projectors that held so many of their precious memories together. On a whim she pressed the power button on one of the projectors. An image sprang into being, depicting their first day in their new apartment three years ago. Fareeha was a sweaty mess from lugging boxes upstairs the whole morning, but her exposed muscles were shining, a sight Satya was still a bit weak for. In the picture Satya was holding the camera out in front of them, smiling widely. One of Fareeha’s arms was draped around Satya’s waist, the other holding her sweaty hair back from her face.

She rested her chin on her palms and sighed contentedly. _Such a perfect human being._

Satya had always been so focused on her work life that she had come to accept she would never have time for romance. Never had she expected the newest security guard at work to be such a charming woman – and so willing to adapt to Satya’s workaholic lifestyle. Now here they were, four and a half years later, moving into a house together. What Satya had believed she would never achieve was now sitting directly in her lap. And it was just as sweet as she had always imagined.

She set the hologram down on a tiny end table. _Soon we will have a multitude of new house memories as well._

* * *

 

They managed to get unpacked enough by dinnertime to eat in the cute little dining room. Unfortunately their small appliances were still lost in a sea of boxes, so they ended up keeping it simple and just slicing up some fruit and vegetables Satya had scavenged from their apartment as they were leaving it for the final time.

“So…” Fareeha said at one point. Her tone implied everything she was about to say. Satya shook her head, simply waiting for her to finish. “We’re all on our own out here. Nobody to possibly overhear us with, uh, anything…”

Satya folded her arms. “Not a problem for _me_.”

Fareeha’s face flushed. “Well not all of us have cute, quiet little moans.”

Satya smirked. “I can only imagine how happy that elderly couple downstairs will be that they no longer have to contend with your screaming.”

“Excuse me?? Screaming??”

“What term would you prefer? Howling?”

Fareeha balked. “Well it’s _your_ fault! Stop being so hot!”

Satya batted her lashes playfully. Fareeha brushed her off with faux offense.

They spent the rest of the meal, and then the evening, hanging out together. The knowledge that they were alone, no nosy neighbors listening in, helped Satya to relax more than she’d allowed herself to in ages. The car ride and move had also tired them out, leaving them with little energy to do anything productive after moving in. Shortly after dinner they decided to retire early to their new bedroom and enjoy their newfound freedom of no neighbors to overhear Fareeha’s corny, yet oddly endearing, theatrics.

* * *

 

_That night_

A cold breeze drifted over Satya’s exposed skin, spawning goosebumps across her flesh. Without opening her eyes she reached over and grabbed for the blanket Fareeha had presumably stolen. When she could not immediately grab hold of it she grumbled, rousing her girlfriend.

“May I have some blanket?” she whispered, failing to tamp down the note of irritation in her voice.

“I thought you had it.” Fareeha’s voice was groggy, her speech a bit slurred.

Reaching over to the nightstand Satya turned on their small bedside lamp and sat up. The blanket was nowhere to be seen.

Fareeha rubbed her eyes. “Where did it go…?”

Satya pointed to the far corner of the room. “Er…”

The blanket was over there – tied in a bow around one of their yet-unpacked clothing boxes.

Fareeha paled. “Did…you…do…that…?”

“Actually, that was me.”

They both whipped around at the sound of a high-pitched, slightly-distorted voice. Fareeha shrieked and leaped off the bed. Satya simply froze, unable to even muster a scream.

Sitting cross-legged between their pillows was a teenage girl with long brown hair, neon pink triangles painted on her cheeks, and brown eyes that glowed in the bedroom’s dim light.

The girl smiled sweetly. “You like my house?”

She was clearly no ordinary teenager. She radiated a freezing aura, as if her very presence was actively sucking the warmth from the room. Her clothing was bizarrely dated – a tight-fitting pink t-shirt, bright pink socks, and torn jeans that looked straight out of the 2010s. And at certain angles the light from their nightstand lamp seemed to pass right through her body, putting an uncanny, surreal bit of distance between her and the plane of existence occupied by everything else in the room.

Fareeha grabbed Satya and pulled her away, putting herself between Satya and the girl. Despite her bold position, however, Satya could feel the hand around her wrist shaking. And the grip was just a little too tight.

“Who are you?” Fareeha tried to demand.

The girl tossed her hair. “Who am I? Who are _you_?”

Fareeha swallowed. “Okay, look, I don’t know who you are, but we own this house now. If you were using it as some sort of hangout while it was abandoned…”

Satya leaned around her and tried to catch her eye. _Does she not see what is going on here…?_

The girl burst out laughing, tangling her socked feet in their freshly-made sheets. “Wow,” she choked out between laughs, “you’re _dumb_!”

Fareeha gritted her teeth, but before she could respond the girl vanished. “What the hell is going on?!” Fareeha spun in a circle, trying to direct her question but finding no target to direct it at. “What are you?!”

The doorway ignited with a blinding light. Satya and Fareeha stumbled backward, clinging to each other as the light formed into a humanoid shape – then sprouted giant, insectoid legs from its back. The light soon gave way to reveal a monstrous woman with long, dreadlocked hair and six brown legs sprouting from her back.

She reached out for them with all of her hideous limbs. “I AM…THE **_QUEEN OF BLADES_** _!!_ ”

Before Satya could even react Fareeha leapt at the monstrosity, tackling her to the ground. “ _Aghh!_ ” The creature shrank back into the form of a petite teenage girl. Instead of looking menacing, however, she squirmed with laughter in Fareeha’s arms.

“What the _hell_ is going on?” Fareeha growled.

The girl slipped effortlessly out of her grip. She turned and faced away from the two of them. “She _tackled_ me! This might be more of a challenge than the past few fleshies who moved in here!”

“Are you…a spirit?” Satya tried to keep her tone neutral, even though inside she was quaking.

The girl sprawled out across their bed. “What do you think?”

Satya approached her cautiously. She reached out and touched the tips of her fingers to the girl’s arm. A shocking cold arced through her body, and her fingers submerged into the girl’s flesh, as if she were dipping them into ice water.

“Whoa! Personal space, lady.” The girl shimmied away from her, planting her rear end directly on Satya’s pillow. “But to answer your question, yes, I am.” She grinned. “I see you’re the smart one.”

Fareeha situated herself between Satya and the girl once again. “O-okay, fine,” she stammered, “you’re a ghost. This still isn’t your house–”

The girl reached out to Fareeha and laid a hand on her cheek. Fareeha shuddered. Without saying a word the girl’s form melted away into a shapeless mass of light again – but this time it sank into Fareeha’s chest. Fareeha jerked backward. She squeezed her eyes shut and clutched her chest. Satya was at her side immediately. “Fareeha!”

After taking a few deep breaths, Fareeha slowly turned to Satya. Her eyes opened to reveal a total blankness – no irises, no pupils, and two trails of purple light drifting from the glowing whites of her eyes. She climbed up on the bed and threw her arms out. “Hana is the _real_ owner of this house. I’m just a big dumb lug who tries to tackle ghosts into doorframes.”

“How dare you!” Satya seized Fareeha by the wrist. “Release her at once, you – you pestering poltergeist!”

Fareeha winked and blew her a kiss. “Sorry, my viewers voted last time that they wanted to see more possession during my next livestream. I’m just giving my fans what they want!”

It took all Satya had not to start freaking out. Drawing in a deep breath, she collected herself to think semi-rationally. _All right, I am quite clearly dealing with a child here…perhaps if I indulge her a bit she will lose interest in harassing us._

“Livestream?” she repeated.

Fareeha nodded. “I’m streaming right now! I’m easily the most popular haunter in the universe, and in a bunch of others, too!” Hana burst out of Fareeha’s body and reformed into her human shape, leaving Fareeha groaning and rubbing her head. “See?”

The ghost girl ran a hand down the wall behind their bed, splitting it open with a seam of brilliant light. With both hands she grabbed hold of the seam and tore it open. A hellish red light spilled into the room. Several creatures of a jet black gelatinous substance stretched long, snaking tendrils out toward the opened portal. “ ** _WE LOVE YOU D.VA!!_** ” came a distorted gurgle from one of the monstrosities.

The girl grinned and formed a peace sign. “I love you guys, too! Thanks for the interdimensional support!”

“So you are a ghost…somehow broadcasting your antics to other supernatural entities across this and other universes?” Satya ran a hand through her hair. “This is…a lot to process.”

The girl closed the rift and strutted across the room. “Honestly, I’m surprised you’ve never heard of me. Hana Song? World famous eSports pro gamer? Professional livestreamer? Beloved international icon?” She turned on her heel and touched her fingertips to her chest. “I’m a _huge_ deal.”

“What happened to you?” Satya asked.

Hana blinked. “What do you – oh, you mean like…” She shrugged. “Why are you meatbags always so curious about how we died? It’s not that big a deal, honestly.” She hesitated a moment before adding, “But if you have to know, I was going for the world record for longest non-stop livestream. One-hundred and twenty straight hours. I beat it of course, but I wanted to make sure my record _never_ got beaten. So I kept going.”

“How did it…kill you?”

“I guess I developed a pretty nasty blood clot in one of my legs from not moving around enough. Just past the 132-hour mark I started to feel really tired. I figured I was close to falling asleep.” She examined her fingernails. “I got up to grab an energy drink and I guess that shook the clot loose into my blood stream. I collapsed in the next room.” She laughed a little. “Who’d expect a nineteen-year-old to die of a heart attack, right?”

“No one helped you?”

“Jeez, you’re nosy.” Hana folded her arms across her chest. “Lucky for you I’m all about oversharing. I was really rich from all my corporate sponsorships. Everybody wanted my cute face on their merchandise. I bought this house so my creepier fans would stop showing up at my parents’ house. I figured nobody would ever find me here – and hey, I was right!”

Satya frowned. “That is…horrible. I am sorry such a tragic fate befell you, especially at such a young age.”

“Hm? I don’t want your pity, fleshie. I’m happier now than ever before. As a ghost I can stream forever!” She twirled in mid-air and rose up a few meters, her legs dissolving into a single translucent wisp beneath her. “My adoring fans will never go anywhere. They love watching me chase living people out of my house. I’ve been doing it for – wait, what year is it now?”

“2076.”

Hana paused. “Wow. It’s been almost sixty years.”

“Sixty years?” No wonder her clothing looked so dated.

“That’s right. I’m older than both you noobs!”

Fareeha was apparently refusing to engage in the conversation. Her hackles were clearly up, for she was watching the girl like a hawk. Perhaps Satya, too, should have been so wary – but for some reason she could not bring herself to be intimidated by the girl. She had always believed in spirits, and most sources of information she had ever consumed about them seemed to agree on a common cause of lingering spiritual energy – the inability of the deceased to move on from their time in the living world. It only made sense that the spirit of a nineteen-year-old who died suddenly and traumatically would struggle with letting go of the living world. And, judging by her behavior, she was very clearly struggling to let go of her living pastimes.

“So you have occupied this house for many decades,” Satya said. “And you feel we are intruding by being here.”

“Oh, you _are_ intruding.” Hana leaned back on the bed and drew their covers up over her legs. “But you’ll leave soon. No one ever wants to put up with me for more than a few days.”

“It would seem that is your intention.”

“Well yeah, obviously. That’s what ghosts do.”

Satya folded her arms. “And yet you appear to crave attention. Would it not benefit you more to keep living humans around as a constant source of it?”

Hana made a face. “Don’t flatter yourselves. I don’t need fleshie attention. I have _millions_ of fans in the spirit world.”

“Very well, then.” Satya pulled the blankets away from her. “But I will have you know that we invested a good deal of our life savings into this house. We shall _not_ go quietly.”

Hana’s eyes glowed brighter. The glow spread to the pink whiskers on her cheeks, which lit up as if they had tiny lightbulbs inside of them. “Yeah, that’s what I want to hear! A _challenge_!” She turned away to address an apparent unseen audience. “I think this is gonna be my best stream yet!”

Fareeha cocked an eyebrow at Satya. Satya shrugged and ran a nervous hand through her hair.

It was hardly how they expected to be spending their first night in their new home, but they were both far too stubborn to just give in. No bratty little teenage ghost would be chasing them out of their brand new love nest.


	2. Dinner For Three

_A few days later_

Satya and Fareeha sat opposite one another at their dining room table, making small talk in between bites of dinner.

“So how was–” Fareeha ducked to avoid a flying plate that ended up smashing against the wall behind her, “–work?”

“Oh, it was–” Satya grabbed hold of her plate to prevent it from sliding across the table, “–great, actually. I was nominated to take part in the negotiations with Lumérico…to…” She struggled to hold the plate down. As she strained, her glass of water flew off the table and spilled its contents out all over the hardwood floor.

They had agreed the morning after meeting their otherworldly houseguest that they would not reward her behavior with any sort of reaction. Reactions were clearly what Hana sought, and what her audience thrived on. Her antics were amplifying in annoyingness the more they ignored her, proving that their theory was correct. She was growing desperate.

“Oh yeah? Lumérico?” Fareeha reached around and re-hooked her bra. “That’s that Mexican company, right? I overheard some of the guys talking about it in the break room yesterday.”

“Yes.” Satya winced as her hair pulled itself.

“What exactly do they do for–”

“Oh _come on_!”

Hana appeared between them in a flash of pink light. “You guys are the _worst_! I thought you’d be entertaining, but you’re totally boring!”

Both Satya and Fareeha just kept eating, entirely ignoring the existence of the teenage girl sitting cross-legged on their dinner table.

Hana ground her teeth, then straightened her spine to sit up tall. “All right. If you skin sacks want to be a couple of big bores then I guess I’ll just have to spice things up myself!” With that she melted into a pool of light and disappeared into the floor beneath the table.

Fareeha let go of her held breath. “What do you think that means?” she murmured.

Satya rested her chin on her palm. “At this point I would not be surprised by anything.”

They continued their dinner in a tense silence, both on high alert for any signs of ghostly mischief. Hana had gone suspiciously quiet, and remained so for a suspiciously long time. Once they had finished eating Fareeha swept up the broken dish and disposed of the pieces. On her way back from the garbage bin outside Satya stopped her, gesturing quietly for them to reconvene outside the house.

They’d discovered two days prior that Hana seemed unable to leave the confines of the house. Even just in the backyard they were seemingly free of her influence. Thus they had begun spending more and more time together outside, which probably only enraged the petulant little ghost even further.

There was an old wooden picnic table in the backyard beneath a tree. They took a seat at it and glanced furtively about. “This is ridiculous,” Fareeha whispered. “We can’t keep living like this. My mother gave me those plates!”

“Are you suggesting we surrender to her?” Satya furrowed her brows. “We spent months shopping for the perfect house…”

“Oh, I’m not suggesting we surrender.” Fareeha cracked her knuckles. “I’m suggesting we call in some kind of fucking exorcist or something and get _rid_ of her.”

“An exorcist? That seems a bit drastic, my love…she is only a child.”

“A child who throws dishes at my head and calls me a dumb oaf.”

“…Fair point. Perhaps you are right. My tolerance for this chaos has worn thin as well.” Satya pursed her lips. “When we return inside we should begin performing some research. But we will have to ensure that she is not lurking over our shoulders first.”

“You know what?” Fareeha hopped up from the table. “I’m gonna get my phone off the charger and then just do the research out here.”

“Ah yes, good idea! I will retrieve mine as well.”

Satya followed Fareeha over to the back door. As Fareeha reached for the doorknob something grabbed at her. She jumped back as the former doorknob, now a ghostly hand, stretched its fingers out toward her. “For fuck’s sake…” Without a doorknob the door surrendered to one good kick. “I am getting so damn _sick_ of–”

Fareeha’s words died in her throat. Satya hurried in after her, but froze just like Fareeha when she witnessed the scene inside their home.

Everything that could have possibly been broken was broken. A trail of smashed dinnerware led from the kitchen into the living room, where every painting, photograph, lamp and electronic device lay in a shattered heap on the floor. Placed on the very top of the pile was Fareeha’s certificate of honorable discharge from the army, its frame obliterated. Just beside it sat Satya’s once-framed diploma from Vishkar’s Architech Academy, now lying in a pile of broken glass and pieces of frame.

Fareeha said nothing. Instead she merely sank to her knees in front of the wreckage. Her mouth hung open and her eyes were wide.

Hana materialized in front of her, wearing a massive grin. If she were alive Satya would have advised her to flee for her life. Considering the current circumstances, Satya instead opted to step back and simply watch what she knew was about to unfold.

“You…” Fareeha grabbed a fistful of shards from the former frame of her military certificate, ignoring their potential to hurt her. “Okay,” she said, her tone keying down a little, “you know what? You win.”

Satya balked. “What?”

Hana seemed just as surprised by the declaration as Satya. Her gentle mid-air bobbing stilled as she waited eagerly for the rest of Fareeha’s reaction.

“You are a horrible, miserable little demon.” Fareeha got back on her feet, staring Hana down with her fierce eyes. The grin on the girl’s face diminished a little. “I can see why nobody wants to stay around you.”

Hana huffed. “I have _millions_ of fans–”

“Fans, maybe. But how many of them actually want to spend time with you one-on-one?”

Hana opened her mouth to reply, but then slowly closed it again.

“So you win, poltergeist. We’ll move out and you’ll have nothing to entertain your fans with. But it’s not going to stop there.” Fareeha jabbed a finger at her. “We’ll be sure to spread the word far and wide how terrible this house is, so nobody will ever want to move in here. Hell, maybe we’ll have the house demolished! It’s _our_ property, after all. Then you’ll never have another subject to torture for your little ‘livestreams’. And no livestreams, no fans – eventually they’ll all get bored of your annoying personality and leave you. You’ll be all alone, nothing but an insufferable little pest who nobody loves, cares about, or even _remembers_.” She threw her arms out. “But hey, at least you _won_!”

Satya covered her mouth with one hand and simply stared at Fareeha. Hana stared at her for a while as well. Then she slowly sank to the floor, like a deflating balloon, and tucked her knees in close to her chest. She stared at their pile of destroyed belongings, avoiding the gazes of both women.

Fareeha busied herself with attempting to salvage some of their most treasured belongings from the pile. As she walked away with a fistful of torn papers Satya dared to maneuver a little closer to the girl on the other side of the heap.

“Why do you torment people?” she asked. Though her question was a bit harsh, her tone was gentle. Non-judgmental.

Hana did not meet her gaze. “It gets attention.”

“But it is not positive attention.”

Hana shrugged.

Satya moved in just a bit closer. She knelt down opposite Hana. Their proximity all but forced Hana to look at her. “You know,” Satya began, “as a child my behavior was…less than exemplary. I first attempted to seek positive attention from my peers – I would invade their personal space and try to touch them, hug them, any form of validation that I could obtain.” She paused as Hana finally lifted her gaze to meet her own. “I was rejected repeatedly. It was at that point that I learned positive attention was not a guarantee, but that I could _always_ garner a response by acting out.”

“Yeah, exactly.” Hana nodded. “How many fleshies want to just, like, hang out with a dead girl from the turn of the century? Doing what I do now gets me attention from both them _and_ my viewers.”

“But negative attention is ultimately unfulfilling. It leaves you empty, hurt and still craving validation.”

“No, it’s fine.”

Satya shook her head. “You and I both know that that is untrue.” Holding eye contact with the reluctant girl, she continued, “When we first moved in here you presented yourself to us the very first night. You could have continued facelessly haunting us, and it would have been far more effective that way. But you could not hold yourself to that. You showed yourself, because you wanted the girl behind the façade to be known. You do not want to be the best at terrifying people. You want to be Hana Song. You want us to know your face and name, to treat you as a person instead of an invisible force of nature.”

Hana simply shrugged again.

“You are not disagreeing with me. Dare I assume you may agree?”

Fareeha stormed back into the room. Upon seeing Satya so close to Hana she hesitated. “What are you doing?”

Hana retreated back into herself. Satya rose to her feet and took Fareeha’s hands gingerly in her own. “I am as angry as you are,” she whispered. “But I believe I may have discovered a more effective approach.”

Fareeha raised both eyebrows. She leaned to peer around Satya at Hana, who was picking up a few pieces of the mess she had created.

Satya gave Fareeha’s fingers a light squeeze. Fareeha stared at her for a long moment, then returned her attention to Hana. The pieces that the girl picked up began to glow in her hands. She touched two matching pieces together, and with a soft cascade of light they fused perfectly back together. She set the newly reformed lamp on the table beside the couch.

Fareeha exchanged a second wordless glance with Satya, who simply gave a sage nod in response.

Hana next picked up one of their mini hologram projectors. It had apparently survived the carnage, for it flickered to life in her ethereal hands. The image that displayed was an old photo of Satya and Fareeha at the beach during one of their vacations together. Fareeha was the one taking the photo, and as she did so her chin was rested playfully on the top of Satya’s head. As usual she was grinning like a massive dork. Satya’s eyes were covered by sunglasses, but her tiny smile conveyed her feelings just as well.

Hana stared at the picture for a while. Then she said, “You guys seem happy together.”

Satya nodded. “Quite so.”

She set the photo down beside the lamp. “You saved up your money to buy a house with the love of your life. And then I came along and smashed everything to little pieces.”

“Yeah.” Fareeha folded her arms. “You did.”

Hana got to her feet. Despite her small stature she straightened up and looked Fareeha right in the face. “You don’t have to move out,” she said. “Maybe we can make some kind of deal.”

Fareeha pulled a face. “What kind of ‘deal’ would we want to make with _you_?”

Hana’s smile returned. “I’ll let you live here haunt-free…but you’ll be regular participants in my livestreams.”

“No.”

“I didn’t even finish!”

Satya nudged her. Fareeha exhaled. “Fine. Finish.”

“I don’t do fake videos – that’s just wrong.” Hana blew her bangs out of her eyes. “So no fake hauntings or whatever. We’ll have to come up with something new.” She tapped her chin. “Ooh, I have an idea! Instead of livestreaming haunts, I can just document me and two fleshies trying to co-exist in one house. It can be like a daily vlog! Those get tons of views.”

Fareeha pinched the bridge of her nose. “You know, everyone always warns you about the things you’ll have to deal with when you move in together. Never got warned about attention-seeking teenage ghosts third-wheeling it with us.”

“Soo…” Hana appeared between them. “Deal?”

Fareeha looked to Satya. “What do you think?”

Satya paused to process the offer. Was it ideal? No – and in fact the bizarreness of the overall situation was so jarring that any sense of wrongness she probably should have felt had already exhausted itself days ago. Here she was negotiating a deal with a ghost for the right to live peacefully in her own house…

“I suppose…we can give it a try...”

“Okay. Fine then.” Fareeha narrowed her eyes at Hana. “You get _one_ chance. Anything goes sideways and I’m calling an exorcist.”

Hana burst out laughing at that. “You can’t exorcise me! I’m not a demon.”

“Debatable.”

Hana’s demeanor visibly brightened – literally, she was glowing like a night light – after their agreement. All of the rubble on the floor swirled into the air and began piecing itself back together. Hana hummed to herself as she went about returning all of the broken items to their rightful places.

Satya watched her drift through the house, leaving a trail of light behind her as she went. “Nice to receive some positive attention, is it not?”

At that Hana stopped. She turned toward Satya and stared at her for a moment. “Hm…” She waved a palm dismissively. “I _guess_.”

Satya stared her down.

“…Quit looking at me like that, fleshie. I’m not gonna tolerate disrespect from someone who’s like a third my age.”

“I mean no disrespect. I am genuinely pleased with your willingness to compromise.”

“Hmph.” Hana strutted off, but she was still glowing.

“You really think this has any potential to work out?” Fareeha mumbled from behind her.

Satya followed Hana with her eyes as the girl continued fixing their broken possessions. She said nothing.

“…You feel bad for her, don’t you?”

Satya did not turn around. “Do you not?”

Fareeha was quiet for several seconds. Then she let a breath out. “I do.”

Satya reached out and gave Fareeha’s arm a squeeze. “There’s the soft-hearted Fareeha I know.”

Fareeha sighed. “ _Too_ soft, probably.”

_Hey guys, it’s D.Va!_ They heard Hana’s voice from the next room over. _Got an exciting update for ya – as you’ve probably noticed the fleshies who moved in aren’t very hauntable, but they’re pretty cool, so we decided we’re just gonna hang out! I’m gonna vlog our daily shenanigans. I know it’s kind of a tone shift for my channel, but I think it’ll be fun! Definitely a change after sixty years of non-stop haunt streaming._

Fareeha massaged her temples and exhaled. “Well, if nothing else I guess this will be _interesting_.”


	3. Death Comes For All

Sundays were dedicated couple time. For two women with busy work schedules it was often the only full day they had together. And Satya had been researching good local romantic spots for just the occasion.

“All day?!” Hana flitted between them. “But Sundays are the most popular days for streaming!”

“You could come with us,” Fareeha said.

“Hardy har har.” Hana crossed her arms. “So what am I supposed to do all day?”

“I don’t know, whatever you did in-between haunting people for the last sixty years?”

Hana’s eyes went wide and round. “Be lonely?”

“Oh _jeez_.” Fareeha dragged a hand down her face. Satya chuckled a bit. It was no secret that she found Hana and Fareeha’s headbutting a tad amusing. It was also giving her a glimpse into Fareeha’s more maternal side…not that she had ever thought about that sort of thing…well, maybe in passing…

“Ahhh!” Hana yelped as Fareeha lifted her over her head and flung her into the wall. She phased right through it and disappeared.

Satya clicked her tongue. _Hm, yes, that would be **far** off in the future, if ever._

“Fine.” Hana stuck her head out of the wall. “Have your stupid date. Maybe I’ll invite some friends over or something. I don’t _need_ you guys.”

“Oh Hana, it is not like that–”

The girl was gone before Satya could finish. “Don’t worry about her.” Fareeha wrapped a reassuring arm around Satya’s waist. “Come on, we’ve been looking forward to this all week.”

* * *

 

The house was a good hike away from civilization, so any potential date spots became a full day trip. Upon researching, Satya had discovered a nature park not too far away, with a small forest, a pond, basically everything one could ask for in a quiet, romantic little nature spot.

The tiny parking lot was virtually empty when they arrived there. Satya parked their car facing the lake.

Fareeha leaned over on the armrest. “So now that we finally have some alone time…”

Satya stole a glance around. The few cars parked nearby were all empty, and there didn’t seem to be anyone within view.

She cupped Fareeha’s face in her hands and closed in for a gentle kiss. Fareeha slipped her hand down around Satya’s waist and pulled her closer. In her typical hound dog fashion her tongue lolled into Satya’s mouth, running along the surface of Satya’s own tongue as if she were trying to perform some sort of saliva transplant. Thankfully Satya was more than used to her lover’s passionate-but-sloppy kisses. With a quick, discreet wipe of her chin she put the armrest up and then shimmied over to the passenger side of the car, where Fareeha eagerly drew her in close for a deeper kiss.

Despite the excessive salivating and licking, Fareeha wasn’t actually a bad kisser. She made one feel as though she could not get enough of them, as if she were desperate for more. Satya never felt more wanted than when she was clutched in the big, rough, and yet delicate hands of Fareeha Amari.

Satya was sitting up to lower the sun visor when she caught a glimpse of something in the far distance. A figure standing by the lakeside, clad in all black. Its face was obscured by a white skull mask, but it was facing them directly. “What is–” Satya took her eyes off the figure for but a moment to glance over at Fareeha. When she looked back the ominous figure was gone.

Fareeha made a small noise of confusion. “Hm? What’s what?”

“Did you not see it?” Satya pointed to where the figure had been. “A masked person in black. They were staring in at us.”

Fareeha reached over and locked the doors. “Okay, maybe we should go somewhere that _isn’t_ creepily abandoned.”

“Wait–” Satya furrowed her brow. “Do you think this could be Hana’s doing? Perhaps she is attempting to lure us back home.”

“She can’t leave the house.”

“Do we _know_ that? Or are we simply assuming she is telling the truth?”

“I mean, I guess we don’t know for su– _AGHH!_ ”

Satya whipped around. She shrieked at the figure standing directly outside the passenger window. It was still staring in at them, and its arms were crossed over its chest, looking anything but friendly.

Scrambling back into the driver’s seat, Satya had the car started and reversing in about two seconds. The figure turned slowly, following their car with its eyeless mask sockets.

“It’s still looking at us,” Fareeha whispered. Satya switched the car into drive and pulled out of the tiny lot as fast as she safely could.

Once the creature disappeared into the distance Fareeha leaned back in her seat and exhaled. “So is this just gonna be our life now? Everywhere we go we’re haunted by some sort of inhuman monstrosity?”

Satya did not answer. Her fingers wrapped tightly around the steering wheel, far tighter than they needed to be. The car began to roll to a stop as she released the gas pedal.

“Hello?” Fareeha’s tone softened a little. “Hey, are you, uh, spacing out, or…?”

It didn’t take Fareeha long to follow Satya’s stare into the rearview mirror. What she saw froze her as well.

The masked entity was lounging in the backseat of their car.

Satya’s throat dried up. She tried to string together some words, but her mind was racing and she could not hold on to any of the thoughts long enough to translate them into speech. Thankfully Fareeha had that covered.

“Okay, you’re not human,” she said, her voice noticeably quaking. “Are you one of Hana’s friends? Sh-she mentioned inviting some over–”

The creature reached out and gripped the armrest between them with a clawed hand. In a harsh, barely-human growl, it uttered, “We need to _talk_.”

Its words were spoken slowly and deliberately, adding an even more menacing undertone to its already-terrifying presence. Satya could feel the signs of a shutdown bubbling just beneath her surface. She had been (barely) coping with having her life thrown into chaos by a wayward but ultimately harmless poltergeist – but now others were appearing, creatures far more threatening in appearance and behavior. She needed time, she needed space to process it. Everything was starting to feel as though it were moving away from her. _No…not now…I can deal with these feelings later…_

She reached over and squeezed Fareeha’s fingers with her own. The physical connection helped to ground her somewhat, enough to at least finally find her voice. “And…” She tried to look the creature square in its lack of visible eyes. “…Who are you?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” The creature’s voice was deep, resonating, and almost certainly male. He seemed to pause for allowing Satya and Fareeha to identify him. When neither did, he growled and said “I’m the _Reaper_.”

“Oh.” Satya tried desperately to moisten her bone-dry mouth. “Of course you are.”

“If – if you’re trying to take us or something,” Fareeha said, “we’re not ready to die – we, um, might smell like death or something because we’ve been hanging around with a dead girl–”

The Reaper snarled. “I’m not here for _you_ , mortals. My job is to collect dead souls and ferry them to the afterlife. And the little pest you’ve got in your house has been evading me for too long.” He steepled his fingers and leaned back in the seat. “So I thought I would come to you with an offer.”

Satya’s knuckles were white from her unrelenting grip on the steering wheel. _This is insane. What is happening to our life? All I ever wanted was peace and order!_

“What…kind of ‘offer’?” Fareeha held tight to Satya’s hand. Satya couldn’t tell who was shaking harder.

The Reaper’s slow, purposeful words carried an undertone that sounded almost mocking, sarcastic. “I’m sure you’ve had your fill of her pestering ways by now. So here’s my offer – let me take her off your hands. You’ll never have to be bothered by her again, and I can finally wrap this job up.”

Any moisture Satya had conjured in her mouth immediately wicked away again. “What would happen to her?”

“I escort her to the afterlife. Where she _should_ have gone sixty years ago.”

“What is it like there? Is it…pleasant?”

The Reaper sneered. “I wouldn’t know. My job keeps me here.”

Satya looked to Fareeha again. Fareeha appeared as uncertain as she herself felt. “I don’t understand,” Fareeha said, “why do you need our blessing to take her? If it’s your job then can’t you just do it?”

“All of the lost souls she draws to her…what she calls her _fans_ …they form an impenetrable barrier around her house. That’s why she keeps them around. And it’s why I can’t get through to her without you luring her out of there.”

“Wait, so she _could_ leave the house? She just doesn’t because she’s hiding from the grim reaper?”

“And she’s keeping a horde of misguided souls trapped here with her, telling them they don’t ever have to move on. That they can stay on earth causing chaos for all eternity.” His eyeless gaze turned from Fareeha to Satya. “It doesn’t take a genius to figure out how that will eventually go wrong.”

It made sense, in a dark way. If every spirit was allowed free roam of the mortal realm the world would plunge into madness. Shepherding them to the next life seemed the only real solution for preventing such widespread disarray.

Fareeha seemed to read her mind, or perhaps she knew Satya well enough by now to realize that line of thinking would line perfectly up with Satya’s. “That makes sense, I guess. Hana’s been wreaking havoc in our house.”

“So just get her to step outside. That’s all you have to do. I’ll handle the rest.”

Before they could say anything else the Reaper dissolved into a billowing cloud of smoke. It leaked out the doors of the car and then disappeared before their eyes.

“So, uh…” Fareeha stared at the empty back seat for a long time. “That happened.”

“…Indeed.”

They remained pulled over on the shoulder of the road for several minutes, neither saying a word. Then eventually Fareeha said, “Are we really gonna offer her up to some guy who looks like he just robbed a Halloween store?”

“I understand his desire to maintain the order of things,” Satya replied. “I think it is a noble goal, actually.”

“So you’re okay with just giving her up? I thought you didn’t mind her.”

Satya fell silent. For all her annoying ways, Hana had grown on her. She sympathized with the girl. Loneliness radiated from her, especially obvious from her behavior, not to mention the fact that she had latched herself onto them and drank up their attention like a tick to fresh blood.

“She may not know what is best for her,” she eventually said. “She may be an old soul, but developmentally she is just barely an adult.”

“How about we think about it? Sleep on it, maybe.”

Satya nodded. “You are right. We should not make a rash decision.” She reached over to start the car. Before she did, however, she asked, “So I presume our Sunday Date is canceled?”

“Why, ‘cause the grim reaper showed up?”

“Is not that enough?”

“I don’t know. Is it?”

Satya blinked. Fareeha smiled a little.

“You are right…again.” Satya cupped Fareeha’s face with one hand. “I could use some relaxation time, without any supernatural encounters. But perhaps this time we should not park ourselves in an abandoned lot.”

“Oh, definitely.”

* * *

 

Their date ended up turning into a long, meandering drive through the quiet countryside roads near their house. Neither of them minded – it was nice to be able to just talk and be alone for a while. The entire time, however, the thought lingered in Satya’s mind. _You could have all the alone time you wanted if you got Hana to move to the afterlife._

When they arrived back home they sat in the driveway for a few minutes.

“Honestly, this whole situation isn’t sitting right with me, “ Fareeha said. “Why is that Reaper thing so determined to have her? And why is Hana trying so hard to hide from him? I feel like there’s more at play here than either of them is letting on.”

Satya pulled her fingers through her hair. “A mere few weeks ago I would never have dreamt we’d be debating removing a ghost from our home. Now we are considering deals with soul reapers…” The human mind’s ability to adapt to and normalize completely irrational, inexplicable situations was truly a marvel.

Eventually they got out of the car. Upon closing the door Satya’s ears immediately perked up. Something inside the house was making noise. A _lot_ of noise.

Fareeha clearly heard it as well. She shot Satya a look before creeping up to the door. Once they were both at the doorway Fareeha eased it open. The moment they stepped inside they were assaulted with volume – sirens, sounds of smashing metal, and people screaming.

_Six stars! That’s when the tanks start chasing you!_

_I got this, I got this!_

“Hana?” Satya’s voice was lost amidst the noise.

Fareeha headed into the living room, where the noise seemed to be coming from. Sure enough, when Satya followed her she came upon the source of all the ruckus. Their holovid was powered on and displaying some sort of video game in which a car was careening through streets, running over pedestrians and bouncing off other vehicles, all while being pursued by an armada of police cars. Seated on the couch a stretch away from it was Hana and…a girl Satya had never seen before, who was holding a controller and leaning eagerly toward the screen.

“Look out!” Hana could barely contain her laughter as the girl flipped the car off a ledge and into a body of water. “Nooo!”

A young man emerged from the car and started frantically swimming. Bullets from surrounding police rained down around him. “I can still get out of this!” the girl shouted, laughing almost as hard as Hana. Within seconds the character was loaded with bullets. He sank to the bottom of the water as the screen faded to gray. _WASTED._

“Nice job getting out of it,” Hana said. “No wonder you’re dead.”

Once the video game reset itself and the sirens stopped, Satya cleared her throat. Both girls startled a bit, then turned around to peer at them over the back of the couch. The girl Hana was with had dark skin and long black hair woven into intricate dreadlocks. She was dressed like a character out of some sort of apocalypse movie, and in that regard looked almost as outdated as Hana.

“Are these them?” the girl whispered to Hana, clearly audible to Satya and Fareeha as well.

“Yeah! You wanna meet them?”

The girl hung back. “Living people make me kinda uncomfortable. Uh, no offense to you guys.” She handed the controller to Hana. “Let’s hang out another time.” Before Hana could respond the girl dissolved into a radioactive green puddle, which then dissipated into nothingness.

“Hmph.” Hana shut the game off. “Wish you guys had told me you’d be getting home so early.”

“Yeah, there, uh, wasn’t a whole lot to do out there.” Fareeha shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant.

Hana drifted off the couch, got close up in their faces, and crossed her arms tight over her chest. “Well you told me I’d have the whole day to myself, so I made plans.”

“That is fine,” Satya replied. “What sort of plans do you have for the rest of the day?”

Hana bristled. “Why’s that any of your business?”

“I suppose it isn’t. I was simply trying to make conversation.”

Hana drifted behind them, forcing them to turn around. “If you _must_ know,” she said, “I was planning on spending the afternoon in the basement. Some of my old stuff is still down there, so I like to hang out there sometimes.”

“Your family left your belongings here?”

“They just missed a few things. A couple of photographs and some of my smaller collectible figures.”

For some reason, the mental image of Hana over the decades passing time alone in the basement with the few worldly possessions she had left struck Satya rather hard. “Ah. Perhaps at some point you could show me your things.”

Hana lit up. “You wanna see them now?”

Satya glanced at Fareeha, who merely shrugged in response. “All right, then,” she replied. Show us.”

* * *

 

The basement was freezing. Satya hadn’t spent much time down there largely because of that. As Hana flew down the stairs ahead of them she wondered if the girl was somehow able to keep it that way intentionally.

Hana zipped over to the farthest corner of the basement, then reached through the wall and did something that caused a small part of the wall to slide outward like a trap door. She retrieved a tiny cardboard box from within the wall and flew over to Satya and Fareeha with it.

Before she opened it she briefly hesitated and said, “I’ve, uh, never shown these to a fleshie before.”

She opened the box and gingerly lifted out a photograph. Satya couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen a physical, developed-film photograph rather than a hologram projector or a digital photo frame. It looked so old and fragile.

Hana’s icy, translucent hands set the photo in Satya’s palm. “This is when I won my first local video game tournament. I was ten, I think?”

Satya and Fareeha both looked down at the photo. A young girl who was clearly Hana was grinning and clutching a huge trophy. Helping her hold it up was a man who must have been her father, grinning almost as big as little Hana. “Is that your father?” Satya touched his likeness with a fingertip.

“Don’t touch it!” Hana pulled it away. “You’ll get your meat grease all over it.” She set the photo on the floor between them. “And, yeah. It is.”

“Where are your parents now?” Fareeha spoke up at last.

Hana shrugged.

“You don’t know?”

“I mean, they’re probably dead too.”

“Think they’re waiting for you in the afterlife?”

Hana picked the photo back up and put it away. “I didn’t show you these to be interrogated.”

“Jeez, okay. Sorry.”

Hana rummaged around in the box for a minute before opting to pull out a figure instead. It was a woman with blonde hair in silver and blue armor. “This is Nova Terra from Starcraft.”

Satya gently accepted the figure from Hana. It looked and felt so old, like something one would see in an antique store. She ran her fingers along its surface, taking in the texture and feel of it.

Hana retrieved another figure from the box. “This is Kerrigan. She’s my favorite.”

“Ah. This is the character you mimicked the first night we met you.”

Hana giggled. “Yeah, she’s really cool!” Blinding light engulfed her, and her form changed shape. When she reacquired a physical form she looked just like the figure. “I’ve been practicing taking her form for ages. I think I’ve finally mastered it!”

Satya examined the figure carefully. Hana did look just like her.

“Well?” Hana piped up after a few seconds. “You think it looks good, right?”

“Oh, er, yes, it does.” She handed the figure back to Hana, who then reverted to her usual form.

“I can do a few others, too. Kerrigan’s is the best, though.” She plucked out one last figure, a tiny, tan-skinned woman in blue armor with what appeared to be wings spread out behind her. “This is Pharah from Overwatch. Hmm.” She held the figure up to Fareeha and squinted. “She kinda looks like you.”

Fareeha took the figure and studied it. “Doesn’t look anything like me.”

Satya reached into the box. “Hey!” Hana tried to swat her away, but Satya pulled out a photo in a cracked frame. It was a family portrait, and the most populated one Satya had ever seen. It featured older relatives, presumed aunts and uncles, cousins, probably about twenty people in all. Dead center of the picture, unsurprisingly stealing the spotlight, was Hana. She was grinning and forming a peace sign, a pose she seemed to favor. She was clearly loving every moment of the stolen spotlight in the portrait. Beneath the picture, in a fancy calligraphic print, an inset read _송 2016_.

Satya stared at it for a long time without speaking, even though from the corner of her eye she could see Hana waiting for commentary. Truthfully, she wasn’t too sure what to say. Several younger members of the Song family were looking at Hana instead of the camera, laughing and trying to mimic her flawless pose. _The family must have been torn apart when she died._

“Well?”

She glanced up from the photograph. “Hm?”

“Say something.” Hana stared her down. “I know you’re thinking something. Just say it.”

With some degree of hesitation, Satya set the photo on the floor between them. It settled with a delicate _clack_ of the chipped wood frame.

“Why don’t you want to move on to the next life, Hana?”

The silence that fell over the room was palpable. An icy breeze stirred up around Hana, fluttering her long, silky hair around her shoulders. Her eyes narrowed at the floor by her feet. “Why would I want to? Who would want to go to some strange new world I’m totally unfamiliar with when I could just stay here and keep doing what I’m doing?”

Satya glanced purposefully down at the picture. “Do you not miss them?”

Hana grabbed the picture up and stuffed it back in the box. “I don’t know why I cared what you thought of my stuff.” She returned it to its hidden spot in the wall. Then, before Satya could say anything else, she disappeared into the wall.

Fareeha looked over at Satya, then at the wall. “Well that could have gone better.”

Satya massaged her temples. “I suppose I should find her.”

Fareeha’s hand settled on Satya’s. “Hey,” she said, “let me give it a try this time. You’ve been doing so much of the emotional legwork here. Let me give you a break.”

Satya gazed into Fareeha’s eyes. They were so soft and tender, alight with a warmth that always helped to ground her in times of emotional distress. She was so very beautiful, inside and out.

Satya reached out and let her fingers trail down the side of Fareeha’s face. The familiar texture filled her with reassurance. “All right,” she said. “Be graceful, though, will you?”

Fareeha leaned back and cracked her knuckles. “Grace is my middle name.”

“Really? And all this time I thought you didn't have one.”

With a smirk Fareeha got up and then offered her hand to Satya. Satya accepted her hand and let her pull her to her feet. They paused to look each other over for a moment. Then Fareeha reached out and combed her fingers through Satya’s hair. Satya made a small noise of contentment, shyly covering her mouth behind a few fingers.

“You just relax,” Fareeha whispered. “I’ve got this handled.”

She headed upstairs then, leaving Satya alone in the basement. Satya remained in the cool darkness for several long minutes, collecting her thoughts.


	4. Don't Go Where I Can't Go

All Fareeha had wanted was a little peace and privacy with the love of her life. She didn’t want to be counseling teenage poltergeists. She didn’t want to be chasing them through her house, trying to mediate between them and her sometimes painfully honest girlfriend.

“Hana?” Her words reverberated through the still scarcely-furnished upstairs. They received no response. “Hana, come on. Don’t be like this.”

As she wandered through the upstairs hallway a chill began to settle in her bones. Her body involuntarily shivered. _She’s got to be nearby._

Upon nearing their bedroom a translucent, purple-tinted smoke trail started to seep out of her chest. “Hana? What are you up to?”

She pushed open the bedroom door and gasped. The room was filled with a thick purple fog, obfuscating everything within it.

Hana sat cross-legged on the bed. She was staring into some sort of portal, the source of all the smoke.

“Hey?” Fareeha crept up behind her. “Um, what are you doing?”

Hana did not turn around. Fareeha leaned around her and gazed into the portal instead. Through the mist she could just make out something – faces, perhaps, or at least some humanoid shapes moving around.

“Hana…?”

“Are you familiar with the concept of the grim reaper?” Hana’s tone was uncharacteristically serious.

“Um…” Fareeha fidgeted a little. “Yes? I mean, in theory.”

Hana kept her legs crossed beneath her, her elbows rested on her thighs. “He’s real. And he’s been trying to take me to the afterlife for a looong time now.”

“Why?”

“He can’t move to the afterlife himself until he guides enough souls there first. He knows that if he gets me he can also get all my fans who stay here for me. That’d be like, _thousands_ of souls in one go. It’d probably be enough for him to be able to complete his job.”

“But you don’t want to go.” Fareeha sat down beside her on the bed. “Because you’re scared of giving up what you know.”

Suddenly the purple smoke began to leak from Fareeha’s eyes. In condensed as it traveled downward, eventually forming into heavy droplets of ethereal liquid that ran down her cheeks and splattered down onto the blanket. No matter how much she wiped her eyes the smoke-tears just kept pouring out.

Hana sniffled. “I miss my family sometimes.”

The tears grew larger and heavier, soaking Fareeha’s shirt and jeans. They were not her own. It didn’t take long for Fareeha to understand what was happening. Perhaps unable to do so herself, Hana was somehow crying through her.

Fareeha reached out and laid a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “H-hey,” she said between shaky breaths, “can I tell you something?”

Hana turned to her. Her eyes were filled with sorrow, but, as Fareeha had suspected, no tears.

“That thing, the – the Grim Reaper, he approached us earlier today. He wanted us to try to get you outside so he could take you.”

Hana stiffened. “What…did you say?”

“Honestly?” Fareeha leaned back against the headboard. “We told him we’d think about it. We weren’t really sure what to do.”

The tears began to slow a little. Hana returned her attention to the portal in front of her. “I could just go,” she said. “Anytime I want.”

“Do you feel like you’re ready to go?”

“I don’t know if I’ll ever feel ready. Would you?”

Fareeha thought on it. “Probably not.”

“I don’t know what the afterlife is. I don’t know if I’ll see my family again. I mean, for all I know ‘crossing over’ could mean immediately being born into some other body. Maybe you forget everything you ever were and everyone you ever knew.” Hana lowered her gaze to the tear-stained bed. “Who knows how many people I’ve been? How much stuff I’ve forgotten? I’m not ready to let go of Hana Song just yet.”

It was an understandable fear, albeit one Fareeha had not thought of. Who would want to take a chance on losing all their memories, especially when memories were essentially all they had left? She couldn’t really blame Hana for not wanting to surrender herself to a strange creature to be ferried forever to some unfathomable unknown.

“You know what?” Fareeha leaned forward again, and lay a hand on Hana’s small shoulder. “You’re not wrong for being afraid. In fact, and I hate to admit this, but you’re right. Nobody should pressure someone into making a decision they’re not ready to make. No matter how long it might take them to make it.”

Hana seemed surprised by her understanding. “But don’t you guys want me out of here anyway?”

“I mean, the reason we bought this house was so we could be alone.” Fareeha gazed out the window at the seemingly-endless layers of trees enshrouding the old house. “But we shared living space with a hundred other people for three years. I guess we can work with it.”

Hana stared downward. “This is why I don’t like doing possessions.”

“Huh?”

“It gets your feelings all tangled up together. That’s why you’re crying my tears and I’m…” Her shoulders drooped. “…feeling how much you guys really don’t want me here.”

Fareeha did not respond. She couldn’t deny that she and Satya would be happier without their resident third wheel lurking around. Surely Hana could tell that even without whatever sort of weird hyper-empathy they apparently had going on.

She cast a brief look over at the girl beside her. Everything from her face to her behavior exuberated youthfulness and all that came with it – the energy, the naiveté, the slight annoyingness of someone far too eager to interact with the world around them in every possible way. Nineteen felt so long ago in Fareeha’s own life. She could hardly imagine being struck down at that tender age, unable to ever grow into the woman she was now. Hana, of course, hadn’t been so fortunate. She would never know adulthood. She would never experience moving in together with a long-term partner and feeling their pure, unfiltered love whenever they held tight to you in their sleep. She would never have the option of having kids or getting married. Her life came to an end because of a stupid mistake at nineteen years old, and now her entire existence was confined to a single house.

In a moment of impulsiveness, Fareeha leaned over and enveloped Hana in a bear hug.

“Huh? What’re you doing?” Despite her uncertainty Hana did not draw away. In fact she allowed Fareeha to pull her in and keep her clutched to her chest for nearly a full minute.

It was during that minute that a sudden thought landed in Fareeha’s mind, not of her own creation. Pulling back from Hana, her eyes narrowed. “Wait a minute. You’re playing this all up for your ‘audience’.”

Hana blinked. Then a wide, sly grin spread across her faux-angelic face. “Shh!” she whispered. “Don’t ruin it.”

“Are you even conflicted about staying here??”

“Obviously not. This is _my_ house!”

Fareeha stared at her incredulously. “And here I thought you might have actually been coming around to acting like an adult.” She touched one damp cheek with her fingertips. “How did you make these tears? They felt so real.”

“Oh, they were real.” Hana shrugged, still smiling. “I mean, I’m miserable. But I’m not leaving here and chancing something even worse.”

Fareeha meditated on that answer for a moment. “Well, I guess I still stand by what I said earlier. It’s your choice. You have a right to make it.”

“So you’ll tell that dickhead Reaper to stuff it?”

“I guess we’ll just say it’s no deal if he shows up again. He won’t hurt us, right? Because if he lays one bony finger on Satya…”

“I don’t think he can hurt living people. Otherwise he’d probably just kill a bunch of fleshies and use their souls towards his soul count.”

The tears may have subsided, but Fareeha could still feel Hana’s malaise in the pit of her own stomach. She might have been playing things up a little for her otherworldly audience, but everything she had said to Fareeha, her concerns and fears, all of it was genuine. It ate at her deep inside.

“Hey.” Fareeha got up off the bed and headed over to the nightstand, where she pulled open the top drawer. Hana watched with casual interest. Withdrawing one of Satya’s hairbrushes, Fareeha held it out to her. “This might sound a little weird, but when Satya’s stressed or upset she loves it when I brush her hair for her. Maybe…?”

“You want to brush my hair?” Hana made a face, but her dim glow brightened just a little.

“I don’t even know if I can, but…” She pulled out the stool in front of their dresser mirror. Hana climbed off the bed with some hesitation, and settled herself cautiously atop the stool. Once she was seated there Fareeha gingerly sat the brush’s bristles in Hana’s thin, satin hair. It was similar to Satya’s texture-wise, so the brush was well-suited to it. With a slow, gentle downward swipe Fareeha guided the brush all the way down to the tips of Hana’s lengthy locks. Once it slipped through the ends she laid it back into the hair on top, applying a bit more pressure this time to push all the way through to her scalp – not difficult with hair as thin as hers.

After a few brush-throughs Fareeha paused for feedback. “Why’d you stop?” Hana asked instead.

“Do you like it?”

“Yeah, it feels really nice. Keep going.”

“Oh of course, your Majesty.” Despite the sarcasm in her words Fareeha was not truly annoyed. Perhaps she was adjusting to Hana’s attitude and ego. The way the girl was lit up as bright as the sun actually gave her some degree of satisfaction. Something akin to how a parent or older sibling might feel in a very, very strange family unit.

Hana’s hair was as cold as the rest of her. When Fareeha worked through it with the brush it parted with an uncanny, flowing quality, and when she passed through the ends of it twinkles of light accompanied the brush for a moment afterward.

“Check it out,” Hana announced to no one in particular, “I’ve got the fleshies brushing my hair!” She giggled as Fareeha tried to ignore her. “You know, maybe I was going about my approach to them all wrong all this time. Why was I scaring mortals away when I could be getting them to do stuff like this for me?”

“You’re lucky I’m patient.” At such close proximity Fareeha’s chest had started leaking purple smoke again. Something inside felt as if it were clutching her heart. At first she wasn’t sure what it was, but as she continued to dote somewhat on the ghost girl she slowly realized there was a correlation.

“You said we can sort of feel each other’s emotions since you possessed my body?” she asked.

“Yeah.” Hana turned halfway in her seat. “Why?”

Fareeha grinned.

“What?” Hana’s smile faded. “Tell me.”

Fareeha twirled the brush between her fingers. “Oh, I’m just feeling a lot of something. Something definitely not negative.”

Hana faltered a bit. “Probably coming from _you_.”

“Nah.” Fareeha pointed the brush at her. “I’m feeling somebody’s love.”

“I don’t _love_ you!” Hana hopped off the stool and got in Fareeha’s face. “You skin sacks are just here to entertain me!” When she noticed Fareeha was still smiling she started slapping Fareeha’s arms. “Stop smiling! I hate you!”

Fareeha grabbed her and tossed her over her shoulder. “Noo!” Hana pounded on her back. Fareeha felt a tingle in her chest that manifested into laughter in her throat. The feeling of love from Hana did not diminish any – in fact it seemed to be growing steadily stronger. “Cut it out! Don’t you know who I am?!”

“Yeah,” Fareeha replied with a snicker, “an even bigger sap than me.”

Hana melted out of her grip, then reappeared over by the window. Fareeha could feel excitement radiating from her. “You’ve been waiting for someone to pay you this much attention, huh? The real you, not ‘D.Va’.”

Hana suddenly sprang on Fareeha, wrapping her arms around her neck in a poor attempt at chokeholding her. “Gah!” Fareeha bucked her off with ease. “All right, you wanna wrestle with someone with years of military training under her belt?” She charged at Hana. With a giggle Hana attempted to leap out of the way, but Fareeha veered and hit her full-on with her leading shoulder. As light as she was, the impact sent Hana flying. She sailed right through the window and vanished from the room.

Fareeha stopped herself just before she smashed into the glass. Instead she leaned forward and peered out the window. Hana was outside, sprawled on the lawn of their backyard. As she sat up and looked around, her eyes went wide. She started scrambling to get herself up.

An immense fear suddenly clutched Fareeha. _Oh. Oh no._

Hana flew toward the house as fast as she could. Before she could reach it, a tendril of black smoke coiled around her foot.

“Hana!” Fareeha bolted for the door. On the way downstairs she shouted for Satya, but could not wait for her. She bolted out the front door without a second thought.

* * *

 

_Satya!_

Satya startled at Fareeha’s cry. She had been zoning out in the basement for…well, since Fareeha and Hana had left it. She’d been holding together as much as possible over the chaos of the past week. The moment she was alone her brain had insisted on some recovery and processing time.

It took a bit longer than usual for her to rouse herself from her state of semi-shutdown. Once she regained full awareness she immediately hurried up the stairs in pursuit of Fareeha’s voice. Before even reaching the top, however, she heard the front door fly open and then slam shut again with such an unpleasant level of volume that Satya involuntarily covered her ears.

By the time she caught up to her lover out in the backyard, it was clear something dire was happening. The entire yard was filled with billowing black smoke and wisps of some kind of purple fog. In the middle of it all stood Fareeha – facing down none other than that hideous “Reaper” they had met earlier that very day. He had Hana bound up in thick ropes of pure black energy. As Satya dared to inch closer to the scene she noticed bizarre, smoky tears streaming down Fareeha’s face.

“This was almost too easy.” Reaper’s inhuman growl of a voice resonated painfully in Satya’s ears. “I should have recruited mortal help _years_ ago.”

Hana’s mouth was bound like the rest of her body, leaving her unable to respond and seemingly unable to escape. Fareeha took a menacing step toward Reaper. “We never agreed to help you. Yeah, Hana’s annoying, but it’s her choice to stay here until she feels ready to move on. Not yours, or even ours. Hers.”

Satya tilted her head slightly. _I was under the impression Fareeha wanted her gone at any cost._ _What has changed here?_

Reaper didn’t seem to even care to address Fareeha. “And you’ve been possessing them, too? You really _are_ a menace.” With a clawed hand he slashed open a rift in the air, opening up to a purple-tinted realm full of moaning humanoid shapes. “All right, you’ve had enough fun for one lifetime. Now it’s time for you to go.”

If this was the realm of the afterlife, it looked truly hideous. Shadowy spirits wound through the thick violet atmosphere, belching ungodly cries and reaching desperately outward with melting, substance-less limbs. Hana stared into it, unable to protest. Fareeha wiped her cheeks in a futile attempt to stop the flood of tears pouring from her eyes.

_This is the way that it must be, though. Spirits do not belong here. They cannot stay here. This is not their world any longer._ Despite those thoughts, Satya found herself conflicted. Did they truly have the right to force an innocent girl into something she had repeatedly insisted she did not want to do? It _was_ for her own good, and the good of everyone in the long run. But…

Before Satya could reach a conclusion, Fareeha suddenly leapt for Hana. The Reaper tried to seize her, but Fareeha knocked him out of the way and rushed straight for Hana anyway. “Fareeha!” Satya bolted after her.

The black coils holding Hana tightened, dragging her toward Reaper’s portal. Fareeha stomped on one of them. It shriveled and withdrew, giving Fareeha a momentary advantage. She dropped to her knees, grabbed Hana, and pulled her into what Satya at first thought was a very oddly-timed hug – then Hana vanished.

Fareeha staggered back a few steps, clutching her chest. Her eyes closed, then reopened to reveal the same blank glow they had taken on the night Hana had possessed her. She studied her hands for a moment. “Why…would you do this?”

Reaper grabbed Fareeha by the throat with his claws. “Uh-uh-uh,” Fareeha tutted, knocking him away. “You can’t hurt mortals, remember?”

Reaper clenched his fists. “No, but I can drag _you_ out of there.” He made another grab for Fareeha, this time reaching clean inside of her. In a burst decision, Satya finally mustered the nerve to interfere – she wrapped her arms around Fareeha’s waist and pulled her away from Reaper’s clutches. With that momentary freedom Hana maneuvered Fareeha to stand up and grab hold of what appeared to be thin air, just as Reaper had done. Her hands alighted with purple energy as she tore into the fabric of reality itself, opening a rift to the hellish red dimension Hana had shown them once before.

“Whoa,” she whispered, “Fareeha is so _strong_.”

“No amount of mortal strength will save you from your fate.” Reaper was immediately upon her again. “I’m so tired of this. No more running! For once in your miserable little life be an _adult_ and accept some damn responsibilities!”

Fareeha backed up against the newly-opened portal. “H-hey guys,” she said in a panicked version of Hana’s usual streaming voice, “D.Va here, and um, I’m in a pretty bad situation right now…”

Suddenly a horde of the inky-black tentacled abominations from the first night Hana had appeared to them clustered around the entrance of the portal.

“ ** _D.VA IS IN DANGER!_** ” came a distorted gurgle from one of them.

“ ** _WE MUST HELP HER!_** ”

An array of tendrils shot out from the rift. They seized Reaper, binding him as Hana had been bound just before. He hissed and slashed at them, but the combined strength of the dozen or more rift creatures was apparently too great for him to fight off. With one mighty pull he was dragged through the portal. Satya and Fareeha could only stare dumbly in at the sight of him being yanked away by demons chirping about their love for Hana.

_“Let me go! I have a shitty job to do!”_

**_“YOU HAVE NOT YET LEARNED TO APPRECIATE OUR D.VA! YOU MUST STAY AND WATCH HER STREAMS WITH US!”_ **

_“NOOO–!“_

Moments later a pair of tentacles reached over, gave Hana a quick wave, then closed the rift.

A burst of light erupted from Fareeha’s chest, quickly reforming into Hana’s usual shape.

Fareeha groaned weakly. “…What happened?” she asked. “Where’s the Reaper?”

“Um…” Hana shifted from one foot to the other. “I _may_ have exiled him to another dimension.”

“What??”

Satya continued to stare at the spot where the rift had been. “I cannot help but feel that this will have unintended repercussions.”

“Oh, it’ll be _fine_.” Hana waved a dismissive hand in her direction. “I’m sure the souls of this world will find their way without that old crank. And if they don’t, hey, more fans for me!”

Unsure how to respond to such ill-fitting nonchalance, Satya could do little but just stare at the tiny harbinger of chaos smiling up at her. Seemingly picking up on their loss for words, Hana instead simply wormed her way between them and wrapped her arms around their shoulders. “Soo, guess we’re kind of like a family now, huh? Since I’m here to stay and all?”

Fareeha scooped her up and flung her into the grass a stretch away. With a squeal she landed on her back, making no sound at all when she hit the ground. Rolling over, she kneaded her fingers in the grass. “It’s been so long since I’ve been outside. I forgot what grass feels like.” She angled her face toward the sun, letting the pink and purple beams of sunset’s light shine right through her. “Hey, wait a minute!” She sat bolt upright. “I can go anywhere now!” The pink whiskers on her cheeks began to glow. “We should go on vacation! I always wanted to see the Bahamas, but I never got the chance to. Ooh, or Jamaica. Or Hawaii!”

The two women hesitated, each looking at the other for a response. Eventually Satya said “We have been through _so_ much stress in this past week, Hana. I think we might need some quiet time at home to relax and decompress.”

“I mean, I could…” Fareeha jerked a thumb over her shoulder. “I could take you for a ride in my truck…?”

Hana floated over to her. “Hmm.” She stroked her chin. “Does it smell?”

“What? Why would it?”

“I don’t know. I always had this idea that pickup trucks smell really bad inside.”

“Well that’s way off. I have an air freshener and everything.”

“What flavor?”

“Flavor?” Fareeha raised an eyebrow. “Uh, ‘leather’.”

“Oh my God. You’re like a walking lesbian stereotype.” Hana cackled. “Oh, and I can totally say that because my best friend is a lesbian.”

“No, you totally _don’t_ get to say that.” Fareeha pushed her away. “I’ll go start it up and bring it around.”

With that Fareeha left Satya with Hana. Satya fidgeted with the fabric of her dress, avoiding eye contact with the boldly staring girl.

“So,” Hana said after a minute, “when do you guys think you’re gonna die? Anytime soon?”

Satya gasped. “Must you be so _morbid_? And I have absolutely no idea.”

“Got any chronic health problems? Family history?” She tossed her hair. “I’m just _wondering._ ”

“Why? Are you planning on killing us on the ride?”

Hana laughed a little too loudly. “Of _course_ not! I mean, you wouldn’t want that! Right?” Her tone grew a little more serious. “I mean you really wouldn’t, right? ‘Cause if you did I could definitely help with it–”

“I can assure you that neither of us is in any way suicidal.” Satya pursed her lips. “I would say that I appreciate your offer, but it’s actually got me a bit concerned for my safety now.”

“Aw, don’t be concerned. I would never hurt you guys! Unless you wanted me to.”

“Er…thank you…”

Fareeha pulled around with her big blue pickup. Hana zipped over to it, checking it all out. “You wanna come, babe?” Fareeha rolled the window down and leaned her arm out.

“I want my usual seat. Hana can ride in the bed.”

Hana climbed into the back of the truck. Satya stepped up into the passenger seat. She always enjoyed the sensations of Fareeha’s truck. The noise it made was low and even, a steady rumble, and the engine created small vibrations that she loved to feel with her fingertips.

Fareeha slid the rear window closed, cutting them off from Hana. “So,” she said, “what do you think?”

“About what?”

“About everything.”

Satya turned around briefly. Hana had her hands out. A fat, fuzzy bumblebee climbed on her finger, curiously wiggling its antennae as it investigated the novel stimulus of Hana’s ghostly flesh.

With a sigh, Satya turned back around. “I did not want this. I am not ready to care for a child, least of all a teenager.” She leaned against the door and gazed out the window. “And though it is not your fault, it would seem you are now too biased to form an objective opinion.”

Fareeha’s soft gaze settled on her. “I’m sorry.”

Satya reached over and laid her hand lightly on top of Fareeha’s. “It is all right, my love. We will figure it out together. And besides,” she said with the beginning of a tiny smile, “perhaps it will make for good experience for any potential future…endeavors, of ours.”

Fareeha blinked. “Are you talking about, like…?”

Satya shrugged, still smiling coyly.

“…I didn’t know you had any interest in that.”

“Well I know your mother would love a few grandchildren to spoil.”

“Oh we would _not_ be letting Mother anywhere near any hypothetical future children of mine. I don’t even want her meeting Hana. They’d _definitely_ get along, and that’s not a good thing.”

“Are we ever gonna go??” Hana had her head stuck in through the rear windshield.

“Okay, okay.” Fareeha shifted into drive. “Sit down. You have to look normal while we’re on the road in case we pass anybody. I’m not getting the police called because they think I’m carting a headless teenager’s body around.”

With a huff Hana folded her arms and sat back against the window.

“God,” Fareeha murmured, “I feel like a parent already.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! So this is the end of the "main" story, which basically establishes the setting for a series of additional one-shots that are going to be added to this fic as "bonus" stories. I already have a few in the works!
> 
> I'll be gone on vacation for a week starting tomorrow, so expect the bonus stories to start being uploaded in about a week or two. 
> 
> In addition to the ideas I already have, if you've got any suggestions or ideas for one-shots set in this universe feel free to comment and I'll consider them! Thanks again for reading!


	5. Bonus Story 1: Ana

“I don’t want to see you for the next five days.” Fareeha jabbed a finger at Hana. “Got it?”

Hana puffed out her chest. “What the heck gives you the right to say that to me? I own this house!”

Fareeha held up the dustbuster.

“Whoa, whoa.” Hana backed up, chuckling nervously. “I mean, let’s not do anything drastic!”

Ever since accidentally finding out during housework that Hana was vacuum-able Fareeha had been using it to her advantage. It gave her and Satya at least a little bit of leverage when negotiating with the wayward ghost, which was more than they’d had when Hana was completely running the show.

Fareeha tapped the portable vacuum. “You stay hidden while she’s here or you spend the week in _here_.”

Her bluff challenged, Hana turned instead to her usual Option B – pouting. Her eyes went wide and round. “But I wanna meet your mom!”

Fareeha pushed the power button on the dustbuster. Hana leaped backward.

It was at that point that Satya apparently decided to intervene. She stepped between them, and then pressed some money into Hana’s palm. “Here. Go buy yourself something. Stay out of trouble.”

“I don’t need to buy things…?” Hana’s tone was somewhere between a question and a statement.

“But you _can_.”

Hana looked down at the money in her hand. “I _could_.”

“So go splurge on something and stop needling Fareeha.”

“Okay, _fine._ ” She counted the money with a small smile. “Just the thought that this is money that could’ve gone towards another stupid leather jacket is making me feel better already.”

Fareeha self-consciously adjusted the collar of her bomber jacket.

“Did I not _just_ tell you to stop needling her?” Satya pushed Hana toward the front door. “Now go. Have fun. See you in five days.”

“Maybe I’ll buy an ugly jacket so me and Fareeha can match,” she said as Satya was ushering her out the door.

“And I’ll go put on some stupid pink face paint,” Fareeha called out in return. Hana turned to say something else, but Satya pushed her out and slammed the door before she could. They heard her mutter something, but she did not come back in. When Fareeha peered out the nearby window Hana was nowhere to be seen. With a deep sigh, she sank into the cushions of their worn old couch. “Are all teenagers this bad? Was I like that at nineteen?”

“Perhaps ask your mother,” Satya replied with a smirk.

“Oh no way. She’ll think I’m thinking about having kids. And I’ll _never_ hear the end of that.” She put on a thick accent akin to her mother’s. “You’re going to name one after me, right?”

That got a snicker out of Satya. Fareeha dragged herself up off the couch and leaned against the front door instead. “Guess we should get going. The airport’s a long ride and Mother somehow always manages to arrive an hour early.”

* * *

 

Hana had spent hours of her living days waiting in airports. It had always seemed so hectic no matter what time of day or night – her time within them had always felt like little more than a blur.

With that prior experience, actually sitting down in one with no time limit and no destination felt, to say the least, strange.

A lot had changed in the sixty years she’d been dead. Of course she didn’t have to commute anymore – since the concept of time didn’t apply to her non-physical body she could travel the mortal world in the blink of an eye. But beyond that difference, the airport itself looked like something out of a sci-fi novel. Massive holograms projected gates and flight times, and the employees calling for boarders were robots! The world had changed so much while she had been confined to her house.

At first she remained invisible. She drifted right past security, bypassing all the stressed-out looking fleshies waiting in line. Once she was through to the inside, however, she couldn’t resist rejoining the mortal world. She found an empty bathroom stall, closed the door, and willed her energy to take a solid shape again.

Learning how to maintain such solidity had taken years for Hana to master. In the beginning she couldn’t even touch the mortal plane. In the first few weeks after her death, when her family was at her house collecting her belongings and lamenting her death, she couldn’t even figure out how to make herself visible to them. Probably for the best, she’d told herself ever since then, but to this day she couldn’t help but wonder how they would have felt to know their little girl was still very much with them.

Nowadays, after years of training, she could condense herself as solid as a fleshie. Hell, she could pass for one in most cases.

With a burst of light her form took shape. It had been so long since she’d seen her living body that there were a ton of details she could not remember anymore – she wondered how much her ghost actually resembled her. This form was more of an idealized version of herself, how she’d wished to look when she was alive. Not that any of that really mattered now anyway. Dating after death wasn’t exactly a high priority.

She decided to shape her energy into the illusion of a sundress. It was a nice day, even if she couldn’t actually feel the sun anymore. And she felt like looking cute.

One change that affected Hana more than she’d expected was the realization that she was no longer a world-famous face. Back in her time she was constantly swarmed with fans, and had to hire bodyguards if she wanted to move through any sort of crowded space. Now, as she sat alone at a small table by a massive window, not a single mortal looked twice at her. _Half these fleshies probably weren’t even alive when I was famous._

She looked down at the money still clutched in her hand. It wasn’t much. What did ghosts even want to buy? She decided to wander a bit, checking out the shops inside the airport. Most sold fleshie necessities and cheap souvenirs. Nothing she would want.

There was a little ice cream shop in the food court that caught her eye. Ten minutes later she was sitting at a different table with a waffle bowl of what had been her favorite ice cream flavor in life, strawberry, in front of her. She couldn’t eat it, of course. The most she could do was take in the sickly sweet smell of sugar and chocolate sauce and feel the cold radiating out of the bowl. It was a stupid waste of money, but she hardly cared.

As she sat twirling a plastic spoon around in the slowly-melting ice cream she decided to just people-watch for a while. Everyone around her had such amazingly different auras inside. Some were bold and bright with warm, inviting light. Others were colored in fierce shades of red and orange, giving them an angry and intimidating appearance. Some were blazing strong, especially children and fellow teenagers. Some were weak, like the last few minutes of a dying candle.

It didn’t matter much. Regardless of the strength of their life force, any of them could die at any second.

Hana had often wondered what her own aura had looked like before she died. Was it strong like these teenagers, and just prematurely snuffed out? Or had it slowly weakened over her final days of life, as death dug its inexorable claws into her young heart?

Fareeha and Satya both had robust, healthy auras. It had taken Hana some time to realize why Satya’s spiritual energy did not flow through both her arms – her prosthetic was extremely realistic. Hana had not yet asked what became of her organic arm, but she was certainly curious.

Fareeha’s aura felt like an entity of its own at times. It was huge, and strong, and it made Hana feel both safe and a little intimidated. More so safe, though, because despite its strength and blazing heat her aura had a soft, gentle core. When Hana had possessed her body she had unintentionally drunk in some of the overflowing goodness in Fareeha’s heart. She and Satya were both good people. Though she would never admit it, Hana was thankful she hadn’t chased them out of the house. They were the closest thing to a family she’d had in six decades.

Thinking about them while she was alone stirred a bit of familiar sadness in Hana’s heart, or where her heart used to be at least. She slumped on the table and rested her chin on its scratched marble surface. _This is all my fault. I’m the idiot who went and got attached to fleshies._

“Excuse me.”

Hana startled. An old woman was standing over her with concern in her one visible eye – the other was covered by an eye patch and a tuft of white hair poking out from beneath a royal blue hijab.

“What?” Hana’s reply came out a mixture of confusion and indignance.

The woman folded her arms. “I just wanted to make sure you were all right. And your ice cream is melting onto the floor.”

Hana leaned over and glanced under the table. Sure enough, the now-soupy ice cream had started to leak through the waffle bowl and drip off the table, collecting on the tiles below it. “Oh.”

The woman handed her a napkin. Hana dabbed half-heartedly at the puddle around the bowl.

The fleshie woman had a brilliant, radiant aura around her. Hana immediately felt safer in her presence. But the feeling, unfortunately, only served to remind her of her current state of exile.

“My only two friends in the world don’t want me around,” she blurted.

“Oh.” The woman’s response came with a note of slight surprise, but also a touch of almost motherly concern. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Whatever.” Hana blew her hair out of her face. “I’m just gonna sit here and buy ice cream with their money until it all melts.”

“Ah.” The old woman eyed the soggy waffle bowl. “So that’s the plan.”

“Yeah. You want some? I’m buying.”

The old woman chuckled. “Well now, how can I say no to revenge ice cream?”

A short while later the two of them were sitting down with fresh bowls.

“So what happened between you and your friends?" the woman asked. “Did you fight?”

“It’s…complicated.” To avoid rousing suspicion in her new companion Hana took a tiny bite of her second round of dessert. The food would do nothing but collect inside of her, splattering out all over the place the next time she dissolved into her true ectoplasmic state. Of course, unaware of that fact, the old woman’s concern eased at the act. “I live with them. They’re a couple, and…”

“Ah. Say no more.” The woman gave another world-wise chuckle.

“It’s not really them, though.” Hana smirked a little. “I’m kind of a pain.”

“No shame in that. One of the only upsides to growing old is that I’ve earned the right to be as pestersome as I want.” The woman smiled around a spoonful of mint ice cream. “Just wait until you’re older. You’ll see.”

Hana forced a smile. “Heh. Yeah.”

They ate in silence after that, though it was a comfortable silence. Hana could feel the cold liquid, what was once ice cream, churning inside of her every time she moved. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling. Hana found herself glad she had no digestive system and thus could not throw up.

After several minutes had passed, eventually the woman’s cell phone started to vibrate. “Ah,” she said as she checked the screen, “that’s my ride.” She rose from the table and, to Hana’s surprise, offered her her hand. “It was nice to meet you…”

“Hana,” Hana replied as her cold, inhuman hand shook the warm hand of the old woman.

“Hana?” The woman smiled and gave her hand one last purposeful shake. “Ana. Thanks for the ice cream.”

“Sure.” The woman, Ana, grabbed hold of her luggage and hurried off. Hana nestled her chin into the crook of her elbow on the table. “…Anytime.”

* * *

 

It was strange – when Hana was trapped in her house the only thing she’d wanted to do was leave it. But now that she could freely come and go, well, she found herself wanting to be at home.

She returned to the house after only a few hours of being out. Reluctantly she dissolved her physical form and passed silently through the front door. _I wonder if they’re back yet._

The sound of living voices perked her up. She was still unused to having any sort of life inside the house. It reminded her of her old house back in Busan, before she’d opted to move so damn far away. She sometimes imagined her parents sitting with her at the too-big dinner table of her current house, telling her how proud they were of her and how much they missed her. Of course the fantasy eventually wore off, and she’d be back with Satya and Fareeha in real time instead.

She stopped in the doorway of the living room. Her two fleshie roommates were sitting on their couch, obscuring the view of the armchair, which seemed to contain another living person. Hana drifted further into the room – and gasped at the sight of the woman from the airport sitting in her house, casually drinking a cup of tea.

 _Oh my God!_ It all made sense then – the similarities in aura, the familiar, comfortable feeling she experienced around the old woman. _This is Fareeha’s mother!_

Ana stirred her tea. “And how are you, Satya?”

Satya smiled shyly. “I am quite well. Fareeha and I are enjoying life outside of the apartment complex.”

“Oh, I’m sure.”

“Yeah, everything’s been good here,” Fareeha added. “No surprises.”

_They’re really just gonna pretend like I don’t exist, huh._

Ana cast a purposeful glance around the room. “The house seems nice.”

_I had it built._

“Yeah, it is nice.”

“Seems a bit big for just the two of you.” Her tone was leading. Implying.

“Three,” Hana piped up, despite knowing no one could hear her.

“I think it’s fine,” Fareeha replied.

Ana clasped her hands together. “Come on, Fareeha, you’re thirty-two years old. When are you finally going to give me a grandchild to spoil rotten?”

“Probably never. I’ve told you that before.”

“Oh, but you’d love it! The little pitter-patter of tiny feet – well, your feet were never exactly tiny, but…” She punctuated the insult with an innocent laugh. Fareeha sighed and lolled her head back on the couch. “But really, nothing can surpass the satisfaction of raising an adorable little girl only to watch her grow into a hardheaded teenager who disobeys everything you say and tells you you ruined her life.”

“Oh I already have _lots_ of experience with that,” Fareeha muttered.

“Yeah.” Hana popped up behind her. “They have me!”

Ana visibly startled. Before she could say anything, however, Fareeha leaped up off the couch and whipped around. “I thought I told you to stay hidden!”

Hana gave an apathetic shrug.

“Hana?” Ana turned and made a slight face at her daughter. “So you’re hiding a teenager in your house? I would think that would be the sort of thing you’d mention right away.”

“They’re not hiding me. I live here.”

“You don’t _live_ anywhere.” Fareeha poked her in the chest. “You just _exist_. And apparently your only purpose is making bad situations worse.”

Her viciousness caught Hana off-guard. Anger radiated from her, choking off her usually calm aura. Although Hana could tell on some level that much of the anger was not caused by her, she could not help but react to it.

Her lower lip quivered. Fareeha took a step back, a look of dread on her face. Tears began to pool in Fareeha’s eyes. Hana watched as they ran down over the fingers that attempted to hide them.

Reduced to a sniveling mess, Fareeha was forced to back down. “…Sorry,” she mumbled, her voice cracking mid-word. The serpent of rage coiled around her heart eased its grip on her just the slightest bit. Hana reached an open palm out toward her. Fareeha did the same. When they met in the middle a jolt of conflicting emotions surged through Hana. In that moment she understood. She wasn’t exactly sure _what_ she understood, but she understood that _something_ was up.

“I’m sorry too,” Hana said. “I don’t want to make you any more stressed out. I’ll go.”

“Child,” Ana spoke up. Both Hana and Fareeha looked to her, though it became apparent she was speaking to Hana. “Is my daughter one of the friends you mentioned?”

“What?” Fareeha glanced between the two of them. “Mentioned when?”

Hana nodded. “I had no idea you were related! You sure don’t act like it.”

Ana fixed her powerful stare on her daughter. “What have you been doing to this poor girl? I came across her sulking by herself in the airport earlier. She said her only two friends in the world didn’t want her around anymore. I had no idea it was the two of you!”

“What??” Fareeha threw her hands out. “You’re just going around telling random people we hate you for pity??”

“You _do_ hate me!” Hana ground her teeth. “You _must_ – that’s why you don’t want me around your family! You’re embarrassed of me, or something.”

“So is anyone going to tell me why you are in the custody of a random teenager, or…?” Ana took a sip of her tea and shrugged.

With a sigh, Fareeha massaged her temples and sat back down on the couch. “We’ve just been taking care of her, sort of.”

“You adopted her?”

“No.”

“Was she orphaned?”

“Uh…sort of?”

“I was, um, staying in the house before they bought it,” Hana said.

Ana set her tea down on the coffee table, then got up and looked Hana over. Apparently satisfied with whatever she saw, she then turned her single visible eye on her daughter. “Fareeha…why didn’t you tell me this?” She reached out and patted one of Hana’s bitterly cold hands. “I may not have a grandchild, but this is the next best thing! And what an adorable little thing she is, too!”

The unexpected praise brought a glow to Hana’s cheeks – literally. Ana blinked in surprise as Hana began to light up the room around her.

“Uh…” Fareeha shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “Yeah, and she glows. Among other things.”

“Dare I ask what the other things are?” Ana did not seem too fazed by the glowing teenager in front of her. If anything she seemed slightly amused.

“Um,” Hana fidgeted a little, “being dead?”

Ana studied her uncertainly. “Dead?”

Fareeha exhaled. “Really, Hana?”

“What? It’s the truth!”

Reclining back on the couch to avoid anybody’s stares, Fareeha groaned low in her throat. “Well we _weren’t_ going to mention it, but, yeah. Mother, Hana is…a spirit. The spirit of a girl who died a long time ago. Welcome to the life we’ve been living since moving out of the apartment.”

Ana said nothing for quite some time. Hana averted her eyes and tried to find anything else to observe instead.

Nearly a full minute passed before Ana finally said, “A spirit, hm? Well that is just amazing! Even at sixty years old it would seem this world still holds some incredible novelties.”

Hana drifted a little closer to her. “You’re…not afraid of me?”

“Should I be?”

“Definitely,” Fareeha chimed in. “She’s terrifyingly annoying.”

Hana made a face. Fareeha pretended to cower.

“It has certainly been quite the learning experience for us.” Satya invited Hana to come sit beside her. Hana melted into the floor and reformed on the center couch cushion. Ana sat back down as well, watching Hana with great curiosity.

“Yeah,” Fareeha said. “I’ve learned how much I never want to have a kid.”

“Really?” Satya frowned. “You’ve changed your mind since our conversation the other night?”

Fareeha made a quick shushing gesture. Satya tilted her head in confusion, but did not press.

Ana picked her tea back up to take another sip. “Well, since you’re apparently content with making your poor old mother wait forever for a definitive answer, perhaps in the meantime I can get to know your current charge a little better.”

Hana didn’t hesitate to join Ana in her chair, soaking up the novel attention. “So did you end up spending all of Satya and Fareeha’s money on ice cream?” Ana asked her, a note of humor in her voice.

Hana sighed. “Nah. I left after that.” She pulled the remaining money out of her pocket. “I still have some. Wanna spend it on something else?”

“Hey, that was to keep you out of the house.” Fareeha snatched it out of her hand. “You broke the agreement, so you lose out.”

“My, Fareeha, you’re a tough parent.” Despite her words, Ana was smiling. “I remember when I used to give you money for errands. You’d come back with half the groceries I asked for and a bag full of toys and gadgets.”

“Aww.” Hana mushed her cheeks. “That’s _cuuute_.”

“I was like ten,” Fareeha blustered.

“Oh no no no, this went on until you were _well_ into your teen years. Then I started losing you for hours in the hobby shop downtown. You’d come home four or five hours later with warm groceries and a die-cast model plane or three.”

Fareeha folded her arms and gave an indignant huff. Hana giggled.

“That is adorable!” Satya clapped her hands together. “You must tell us more stories, Ms. Amari!”

“Yeah, yeah!” Hana chimed in. “Tell us every embarrassing story about Fareeha you know.”

“All right.” Fareeha turned her nose up. “I’m a big girl. I can take it. Do your worst, Mother.”

Ana’s visible eye twinkled with mischief. “Oh Fareeha, I’m not trying to embarrass you! I think these stories are endearing!”

“They are.” Satya wore a wide, adoring smile as she gazed lovingly at Fareeha. Hana made a face at the mushiness _._

“So where should I start?” Ana tapped her chin, a wide smile growing to cross her entire face. “Perhaps I should start at the very beginning, when Fareeha was just a baby. Ooh, I have pictures!” She reached into a pocket and started fishing around inside it. “You simply _must_ see her baby pictures, oh, she had the biggest feet! So adorably disproportionate for an infant…ah, here’s my wallet…”

Fareeha’s groans became background ambience for the rest of the afternoon as Ana went down the road of her entire life story, leaving no embarrassing stone unturned in that motherly way of hers.

* * *

 

As Fareeha had dreaded, her mother and Hana immediately hit it off. She could do little but watch as what was supposed to be, for better or worse, a mother/daughter reunion devolved into ‘mother and adopted ghost granddaughter spend the week together while barely acknowledging the daughter’s presence’. Ana did try to include Fareeha several times, but it was obvious she and Hana just clicked in a way she and her real daughter never had. The two of them were also able to swap nostalgic stories about The Old Days of the early 21st century, which Fareeha of course had no firsthand knowledge of.

By the third night Fareeha had all but given up trying to be included. She spent the evening hunched on the edge of her and Satya’s bed, her elbows rested on her knees as she gazed out the rickety old window set into the nearest wall.

She hadn’t even wanted to see her mother. Shouldn’t she be happy there was someone around to put distance between them?

A gentle knock at the door startled her into an upright position. Satya did not wait to be allowed in before she gently pushed the door open. “Fareeha? Are you all right, my love?”

The sight of Satya relaxed her. She was probably the only person in the house she currently wanted to see. “I have no real reason not to be fine,” she murmured.

“But you are not fine?”

Fareeha exhaled. “I wish Mother and I had a better relationship. Or any relationship at all.”

Satya sat down beside her. Her light, lithe body barely made an impact on the mattress. “Your mother loves you,” she said, “in her own way. As I do. As Hana does.”

Fareeha studied her for a long moment. Satya’s face rarely demonstrated much emotion, so at times she could be hard to read. Yet Fareeha never doubted Satya’s feelings for her. Hell, even Hana didn’t play games with Fareeha’s affection like her mother did. They had arrived at an understanding, and had a certain established dynamic to their relationship.

With her mother she never knew what to expect.

“How do you deal with it?” Fareeha asked.

Satya raised an eyebrow. “With what?”

“With not having either parent in your life.”

“Oh.” Satya scratched idly at her arm. “Well, I hardly remember them, so I suppose that helps.”

Fareeha shifted her gaze out to the hallway. She could hear laughter drifting up from the living room. A tendril of purple smoke began to ooze from her chest as Hana’s overwhelming joy at the novel attention leaked into Fareeha’s heart as well. She could hardly fault the girl for being excited to talk to someone new. Sixty years with nothing but your own thoughts must have been an absolute hell.

It wasn’t Hana she was annoyed with.

“It’s like…” Fareeha gritted her teeth. Satya laid a soft, gentle hand atop hers, waiting for her to continue. “How can she not tell that she keeps doing the wrong thing? Aren’t mothers supposed to have some sort of, I don’t know, maternal instinct? But I guess that’s a lot to expect from someone who let her own daughter think she was dead for seven years.”

“Your mother is certainly not perfect,” Satya said. “But I cannot bring myself to believe she is doing this to hurt you. In fact, my theory…”

When she trailed off, Fareeha lifted her head a little. “Hm?”

Satya seemed hesitant. “It is just something that I have been noticing. But I am not the most adept at reading the motives of others, so perhaps I shouldn’t–”

“No, go ahead. I want to know what you think, hon.”

Satya smiled just a little at the term of endearment. Before she spoke again, however, the smile faded back to a look of somber concern.

“I believe that your mother is convinced you do not want her around. So she is trying to minimize your time spent actively together while still technically being around you.”

Fareeha blinked. “…What?”

“I think she wants to be around you, hence her flying all the way out here to see you, but she does not know how to interact with you one-on-one. You are not the little girl she once knew. I think she struggles with that.”

“…So you think this is her not knowing how to act around me anymore?”

“I think Hana is a useful diversion. She takes the pressure off of what would otherwise probably be a very awkward week of encounters between the two of you.”

It took Fareeha a minute to respond. When she did, she simply said, “No offense, but I think you’re giving her too much credit.”

“You think so?” Satya tapped her chin. “It is the only theory that makes any sense to me.”

It was almost easier for Fareeha to just believe that Ana was a terrible mother. Part of her wanted, needed that conviction. Moral grey areas had never been Fareeha’s strong suit. Unfortunately, grey was just about the only shade her mother’s behavior ever came in.

She got up off the bed. “Maybe I’ll just go down there and join them. Screw it.”

Satya was at her side in a moment. “Shall I accompany you, my love?”

Fareeha deliberated a moment. Then she reached out and clasped Satya’s hands in her own. “If you don’t mind?”

“Of course not.” Satya gave her fingers a light squeeze. “Of course, I also wish to see firsthand that my theory is indeed correct.”

That got a tiny smile from Fareeha. “Okay, that’s fair.”

They headed downstairs, their fingers still entwined together.

* * *

 

“Oh yes, I remember! It was a bit before my time, but I certainly remember hearing about it.”

“Was it still around when you were a kid? Or had it died by then?”

Ana picked up one of the weathered old Pokémon cards Hana had dug out of her belongings box. “It was definitely around. I recall playing at least one of the games, but they were difficult to come by in Egypt. I think the game I played may have been an unofficial one?”

“I was the Pokémon battle champ in my friend group.” Hana’s chest puffed out a bit. “I used to battle competitively and stuff too. I won some local tournaments.”

“That’s quite impressive.” Ana’s tone was genuine, not false like the praise of some of the adults around her had felt when she was alive. Most didn’t understand her accomplishments and saw them as childish, not something to be proud of. Ana wasn’t like that at all.

Hana could feel that she’d been coming between Ana and Fareeha a little, but the feelings on Fareeha’s side were confusing and difficult to read. At first she thought Fareeha was happy to have her mother off her back, but lately she’d been sensing little but anger and hurt from her.

“Hey.”

Hana and Ana set the Pokémon cards down as Fareeha appeared at the bottom of the stairs. Satya was behind her, but as usual was quiet and all but unreadable.

“Hey guys,” Hana said, keeping her tone neutral. She purposely avoided eye contact with Fareeha, who was staring at her.

“Hana and I were just reminiscing a bit.” Ana smiled at Fareeha, but Fareeha would not look at her. Eventually Ana’s smile disappeared, and she resumed looking down at the table.

Fareeha came over and settled into the armchair near them. “What’re you reminiscing about?”

Ana seemed surprised to get a response. “Oh, just some old games and such. Old things, long before your time.”

“Like what?”

Ana hesitated. “...It would bore you,” she said with a bit of a forced laugh.

“No, it won’t. Tell me.”

Hana studied Fareeha curiously. Her emotions had changed since the last time she’d seen her – she seemed a bit less angry now. In fact, for the first time her heart was visible enough through the fog of conflicting emotion that Hana could see the hesitant love contained within – a child’s love for her mother.

_I really have been getting in the way, haven’t I._

“Why the sudden interest in our old fogey conversation?” Ana’s tone was lighthearted, but her words were spoken seriously.

Fareeha shrugged. “Is it wrong to want to get to know my own mother a little better?”

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Hana said. “You can totally hang out with us!”

Though they seemingly tried to avoid it, at one point Ana and Fareeha caught each other’s eyes. Ana attempted another smile. Fareeha’s shoulders drooped a bit. Though Hana could see the stunted love struggling to reach outward to its mother, it seemed something buried equally deep inside Fareeha was keeping it restrained.

“Fareeha loves you,” Hana blurted.

Both Ana and Fareeha turned to her with widened eyes.

“It’s true,” Hana continued. “I can feel her emotions.”

“Hana,” Fareeha said quietly, “please, don’t–”

“She loves you, but she’s scared of something. I don’t know what it is. But it’s stopping her from letting any of that love out.”

Fareeha shot her a glare, but it was half-hearted.

“Fareeha…” With a moment’s hesitation Ana got up out of her seat and crouched in front of her seated daughter. “Are you afraid I will leave you again?”

Fareeha said nothing. Biting her lip, she simply shook her head instead.

Ana rested one hand on Fareeha’s knee. “Oh, my sweet girl…I am so sorry that I have failed you in the past. I will carry that regret with me until my dying day. And probably after that, too.”

Fareeha’s jaw clenched. “Seven years,” she said through gritted teeth, “seven years you left me all alone. I needed you! I – I _mourned_ you…!”

Ana’s face darkened. “I know. There is nothing I can say to defend myself. I will regret that decision forever.”

“And then you come back,” Fareeha murmured, “and you just…act like I’m not even here.”

Ana lowered her gaze to the floor between them. “I want to be with you, my daughter. But I do not know how to talk to you anymore. It has been so long – you have changed so much. You are all grown up now. It’s hard for me…I sometimes feel as though I do not know you at all.”

“Well you’ll never get to know me if you don’t try!”

“You are right.” Ana rose back up to her full height. “Absolutely right.” She reached a weathered old hand out to Fareeha and held it out, waiting. “Do you remember when we used to fight?”

Fareeha glanced at her hand, then up to Ana’s face. “You mean how we’d agree to ‘start over’?”

Ana smiled wistfully. “It never failed to get a laugh out of you, even when we were bickering.”

Fareeha gently clasped her mother’s smaller hand in her own. With a sigh she said, “Nice to meet you. I’m Fareeha.”

Ana’s smile grew. “A pleasure! Ana.”

Fareeha’s other hand hovered near her mouth. She let slip a tiny snicker.

“Perhaps you have not changed so much after all, my dear.” With her free hand Ana cupped the side of Fareeha’s face. Then she leaned in and kissed her on the forehead.

A sudden wave of emotion flooded Hana. Before she could even make sense of it a series of strangled sobs escaped her throat and thick, smoky tears began to course down her cheeks.

Fareeha pulled away from her mother. A fleeting look of concern quickly gave way to a devious grin as she pointed at Hana. “Ha! How do _you_ like it?”

“I don’t!” Hana wailed. “Why did I have to possess such a massive sap!”

Satya, still wearing a tiny smile of satisfaction from her Ana theory being proven correct, slipped quietly over to console Hana. While they were busy Fareeha returned her attention to her mother.

“So what would you like to do, my dear?” Ana asked, running a hand through Fareeha’s hair.

“Well, since we just met and all,” Fareeha said, allowing herself to show her mother a small, genuine smile, “want to spend some time just getting to know each other?”

“I think that sounds wonderful.”


	6. Bonus Story 2: MultD.Verse Theory, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Fareeha is off visiting her mother, Satya and Hana attempt to bond.

The house was quiet without Fareeha. Satya was glad she and her mother were finally off spending some bonding time together, but the downside to that was that it left Satya with no one but Hana for a week’s worth of company. 

They hadn’t established much of a one-on-one relationship, though Satya certainly cared for the girl. She wasn’t quite sure how to reach out and initiate a friendship with her – socializing was hardly one of her strong suits. Thankfully Hana seemed to understand this, and so much of their time was spent just quietly enjoying each other’s company. 

Of course, that did get a bit boring after a while. 

One day, seemingly out of the blue, Hana asked Satya “Do you like video games?” 

In truth, most video games irritated Satya. They were too bright, too noisy, and too fast-paced. She had always preferred more traditional forms of entertainment. 

“Not…usually,” she replied, attempting to avoid sounding callous. 

“Would you ever play one?” 

“I suppose it would depend on the game. I am not a fan of loud noises and flashes – guns, explosions…” 

“What about puzzle games?” 

“Puzzle games?” 

“Yeah, they’re usually pretty calm and relaxed. I actually have one here. It’s an old game, but…” 

She held out a beat-up game case. A few weeks prior Fareeha had come across a cheap lot of old games online, and Satya could only assume this had been a part of that lot. In large white letters the cover read  _PORTAL 2_.  

“This game’s hard, but I beat it years ago. It’s like, brain teasers. You’d probably like it, actually.” 

“Hm.” Satya plucked the game out of her hands and looked it over. “’The highly anticipated sequel to 2007’s Game of the Year.’” 

“Yeah, it’s ooold.” 

“’Portal 2’s unique gameplay challenges you to use wits over weaponry in a funhouse of diabolical science.’” Pursing her lips, she handed the game back to Hana. “Hm. So it is not loud and violent?” 

“Not really, no.” 

_T_ _his could perhaps_ _be a good opportunity_ _for us_ _to_ _bond._  “All right,” she said, clasping her hands together, “shall we try it, then?” 

Hana lit up. “Sure!” 

* * *

 

For several levels, or chapters, or whatever they were called, Hana was in control of the game. And she truly was a master at it – Satya could only watch in awe as she easily conquered every challenge thrown at her. “Wow Hana, you are truly gifted!” 

Hana’s whiskers sparked, igniting to a brighter shade of pink. “Hehe. Tell me something I don’t know.” 

“Oh, er, all right.” Satya tapped her chin. “…Like what?” 

Hana raised an eyebrow. “…It’s just an expression.” 

“Oh! Of course.” Satya’s response was punctuated with an embarrassed titter. 

Hana paused the game and turned to Satya. “Hm.” She looked her up and down with a thoughtful expression. Then she shoved the controller into Satya’s hands. “Okay, your turn now!” 

“Me??” Satya looked down at the controller. She had never even held one before, much less used it to control a video game. “I do not even know how to properly hold this–” 

Hana adjusted the controller in her hands. The position she settled it into felt pretty natural, which she assumed was the intent of the controller’s design. “What is the meaning behind these symbols?” She rested a finger on a button marked with a green triangle. 

“They don’t mean anything. It’s just so the buttons can be universal and not have to get translated in different countries. In this game the control scheme is like…” 

Satya tried to absorb all the controls Hana rattled off. Hana then hit the “Start” button, which resumed the game from its paused state. 

Satya pushed a button near her right index finger. The device on-screen fired a blue ring of light onto the nearest wall. “Oh!” She pushed the button near her left index finger. That fired a ring of orange light beside it. “Oh!” 

“Walk through one of them!” 

Hana guided her to push the left stick forward. Her character walked into the blue ring – and then emerged through the orange ring. “Aha!” Satya went back through it two more times. “I’ve succeeded!” 

Hana was smiling wide. “Uh, not quite,” she said with a giggle, “but yeah, you’re doing good so far! Now see that door over there? You have to get it open. Figure out how.” 

Satya fumbled around the strange laboratory setting for several long minutes. “I wonder if this sort of technology could ever exist in our world,” she murmured at one point, rapidly losing interest in the game itself. “Vishkar has been working on some rather miraculous technological advances…” 

“Psh, who needs technology? I can do that myself.” Hana’s hands glowed as she reached forward, grabbed hold of the air in front of her and tore it apart. “We could travel to pretty much any dimension we wanted, you know.” 

“You can travel through those?” Satya paused the game, now more interested in Hana’s behavior.  

“Yeah! Wanna try it?” 

“I don’t think so. Diving headfirst into alternate dimensions is not exactly my idea of fun.” 

“But it’s so cool! Look!” Hana reached into the portal and waved her arm around. “My arm is in another dimension!” 

“Is that really the best idea–” 

Suddenly another arm shot out of the portal and waved around, just like Hana’s. This one, however, had light pink painted nails and what appeared to be some sort of rainbow-striped long sleeve. 

“Whoa!” Hana cried. “Who’s sticking their hand into my dimension?”  

“Who’s sticking their hand into  _mine_?” a voice identical to Hana’s responded. 

Satya took an uncertain step back. “Why did that sound exactly like you?” 

“I don’t know.” Hana stared at the otherworldly hand for a moment. Then she grabbed hold of it and pulled. 

With a cry a girl came crashing to the floor before them. Immediately Satya noticed that she looked unsettlingly similar to Hana. The only differences between them were their clothing – this girl was wearing some sort of multicolored dress with a blue bodice and pink skirt – and their hairstyle – the girl had her long hair braided intricately down her back with a pink, bunny-shaped hairpiece on top. 

The girl sat up and looked around, clearly confused. Her eyes latched on to Hana, who was staring right back at her. 

“You’re me,” they both said at the same time. 

“I was just in my house,” the other Hana said. “I was getting ready for the Lunar New Year celebration. Then all of a sudden this weird portal opened up and somebody was sticking their hand through it!” 

“That was me!” Hana waggled her fingers. “You must be me from another universe!” 

“Lovely,” Satya murmured. “This world can hardly contend with one of you.” 

“So you  _are_  me?” Other Hana looked Hana up and down.  

“I like your outfit,” Hana said with a smile. “That’s a super cute hanbok.” 

“Oh, thanks!” Other Hana struck a bit of a pose. “Have to look your best when you  _are_  the best.” 

“Wow, you’re just like me.” Hana’s eyes were sparkling. “I wonder how many other Hanas exist out there in the multiverse?” 

“I don’t know, but, like…” Other Hana pulled a bright pink cell phone from somewhere in her dress. “Can we take a selfie together??” 

“Um,  _obviously_?” 

Other Hana held the phone up and away from herself. Hana smushed in next to her. They both made a kissy face and formed peace signs. 

“Ooh, that came out good!” Other Hana showed Hana the picture.  

“Of course it did. Every picture of me comes out good!” 

“True!” Other Hana giggled. 

“So…” Satya glanced between the two eerily identical girls. “This new Hana is going to return to her realm now, correct?” 

Hana looked over at her counterpart. “You wanna go back?” 

Other Hana hesitated. “Hmm…I  _do_ have the celebration tonight, but I guess missing one night won’t hurt anything. I mean it’s just gonna be the same as every other night’s party.” 

“You celebrate every night?” 

Other Hana nodded. “I’ve been celebrating the new year for as long as I can remember. Everyone does. That’s just how it is in my universe.” 

Hana made a face. “Don’t you get sick of that?” 

“I’ve never really thought about there being any other possibilities. Why, what do you do every night?” 

“Whatever I want? Definitely not the same thing every single night.” Hana slung an arm around the other girl’s shoulders. “Forget going to the same old party yet again – you should stay here for the night!” 

“Hana.” Satya pinched the bridge of her nose as both girls turned to her. “Can we perhaps save the interdimensional clone antics at least until Fareeha is here to help me contend with multiples of you?” 

“It won’t be a big deal. We can hang out in the basement or something!” Hana flew over and shut off the Playstation, then took Other Hana by the hand. “Come on! I’ll show you all my cool stuff!” 

“Okay, sounds good to me!”  

They hurried past Satya, giving her no chance to argue the point any further. 

_This is not going to end well, is it?_  Satya exhaled slowly. Her first instinct was to contact Fareeha, but she halted herself.  _No. She is trying to relax and bond with her mother. I can handle this. It’s just a pair of teenage girls._  

Regardless, she positioned herself in the living room so that the basement’s door was clearly visible to her, and she did not let herself get one-hundred percent invested in the reading she decided to do. 

* * *

 

The afternoon passed quietly. Satya eventually busied herself with some housework, and touched on organizing she and Fareeha’s scattered belongings. In the span of only a few short months the house had gone from a barren and ominous old mansion to a home full to bursting with signs of life. Some shelves and furniture had even grown a bit cluttered with mementos and the like. Not Satya’s norm for sure, but she oddly did not mind it. Being surrounded by reminders of her girlfriend’s seemingly boundless love for her made her feel good. It made her feel safe and comfortable. 

On a whim she picked up the jewelry box Fareeha had made for her a few years back. The wood was a bit rough in places and the paint job was clearly amateur, but Satya found she could overlook those things. She wondered if that was a sign of true love.  

Fareeha had chosen Satya’s favorite color, turquoise, for the box’s paint job as well – in fact she had even utilized her favorite shade, hexidecimal code  _#00FFFF_. The inside of the box was segregated into eight different compartments for maximum organization of the jewelry stored within. It really was a gift made just for her. Simply looking at it filled Satya’s heart with warmth.  _At some point I must_ _ensure she knows how much I continue to appreciate the things she makes for me._  

Her thoughts were interrupted by a shriek downstairs. Immediately Satya perked up. “Hana?” She looked to the basement door as she called the girl’s name. “Is everything all right?” 

No one answered her. She threw open the door. “Hana?? What’s happened??” 

When still she received no response, she crept anxiously down the stairs. As she approached the bottom she began to pick up noises – whispers. Giggles.  

Upon stepping down onto the cement floor, she gasped.  

“Oh…hi Satya.” Hana’s toothy smile was utterly telling.  

“What – what is…” Satya held a limp finger out toward a Hana she certainly had not seen before. This one was dressed in a form-fitting golden bodysuit and had her hair fixed into some sort of bizarre updo. In her gloved hands she clutched a small plastic critter keeper full of leaves and sticks. The Hana in a hanbok was staring into it, her face twisted with morbid curiosity. 

Hana wrapped an arm around the new Hana’s waist and pulled her in close. The other Hana didn’t seem very interested – her focus was all on what she was holding. “This is  _B.Va!_  Apparently in her universe instead of taking an interest in video games I took interest in bugs!” 

‘B.Va’ finally acknowledged Satya’s presence, just long enough to hold the container out to her. “I caught this crematogaster queen before you brought me here. I think she’s a  _C. Matsumarai_.I hope she’ll be okay traveling interdimensionally.” 

“What is a…crematogaster…?” Satya could think of little else to say to the odd clone. 

B.Va got up and brought the container over to Satya. “It’s a genus of ant.” 

Sure enough Satya caught a glimpse of a large, meaty ant investigating a leaf inside the keeper. “Oh. How…hideous.” 

“To you, maybe.” B.Va returned to the other two Hanas and sat back down, cross-legged, on the floor. 

“So this is it for Hanas,” Satya asked the original Hana, “correct?” 

“Oh yeah, yeah.” Hana waved a dismissive hand toward her. “I won’t be summoning any more.” 

“And it is just these two here, right? You are not hiding any others?” 

Hana’s hand lowered a bit. 

As if on cue, something fell upstairs. It sounded like a can from the pantry. 

Satya narrowed her eyes at Hana, who shrugged meekly. With a huff she took off upstairs to see what she was about to be faced with. 

* * *

 

Satya stopped in the kitchen doorway. The pantry door was thrown open. A dirty-looking girl with short, choppy hair, a fringing leather jacket and chaps like some sort of budget cowboy was tearing through their food stores. Already she had an armful of cans and other non-perishables, and the pockets of her filthy pants were stuffed with the fresh vegetables Satya had just bought the day before. 

Satya was just opening her mouth to call the girl out when an ear-piercing whistle screeched behind her. 

“ _Hey! You’re under arrest!_ ” 

The dirty Hana dropped all the cans to the floor with a clatter and took off running. Another Hana bolted past Satya. This one was dressed in a full police uniform.  

It didn’t take long for her to overtake the ragtag Hana and slam her against the wall in the hallway. “Hands behind your back!” she shouted as the other Hana writhed in her grip. “You’re going to jail, dirtbag!” 

The ragtag Hana squirmed enough to be facing Satya. When they locked eyes, she froze. “Satya?” 

In that moment Officer D.Va was able to slip a pair of handcuffs on the other Hana’s scrawny wrists. “All right, criminal scum, you’re coming with me.” 

“I’m just hungry!” 

“That doesn’t make it okay to steal.” 

“Er.” Satya cleared her throat, garnering the tiny police officer’s attention. “I am sure we can spare a bit of food for her. No need to arrest her over it?” 

The officer looked from the other Hana to Satya and then back again. “…You’re lucky this isn’t my jurisdiction,” she muttered as she uncuffed the other Hana. 

The ragtag Hana ran over to Satya and threw her dirt-caked arms around her. “I knew you’d bail me out. You always do.” 

Uncertain how to reply, and overwhelmed by the stench of sweat and body odor emanating from the girl, Satya could not respond. 

Hana, B.Va and New Year D.Va appeared in the kitchen a minute later. “What’s going on?” Hana asked. Satya couldn’t tell if the question was directed at her or the other Hanas. 

“Your Satya said I can have some of your food,” the leather-clad Hana piped up. 

“Of course you can! Hey–” She glanced around at her squadron of clones. “We should all have dinner together! We can get to know each other better.” 

“I’m not dining with criminals,” Officer D.Va huffed. 

“I’m not a criminal.” The other Hana responded with a matching huff of her own. “I’m just a Junker. A  _hungry_  Junker.” 

All at once, with the exception of Officer D.Va, who was a bit reluctant, the Hanas all turned to Satya with wide, pleading eyes. Under so many plaintive stares Satya was all but powerless to refuse. 

Twenty minutes later the Hanas were all gathered around the dinner table, chattering in five identical voices. Satya wasn’t certain they had enough of any type of meal to feed the four alternate universe teenagers, but she did her best to stretch out the last of the surmai couscous left over, and then somewhat forgotten about, from the night before Fareeha left for Egypt. She gave it a discreet sniff. It smelled all right. Good enough for a bunch of interdimensional clones she would hopefully never see again, anyway. 

Hana sat at the head of the table, as if she were the dinner host and Satya merely the cook. Amongst their chatter Satya heard one of the Hanas ask, “So you’re dead?” 

“Uh-huh. Heart attack after breaking the world record for longest marathon gaming session.” 

“Interesting way to go,” Junker Hana said. 

“Thanks!” 

“When I die I want to be buried in a biodegradable coffin so I can help feed the flies and worms.” B.Va sighed. “Too bad I won’t be able to take care of them beyond that…” 

“I eat flies and worms almost every day,” Junker Hana said. B.Va looked horrified. 

“Ooh, I’ve had silkworms before,” New Year Hana chimed in. “Well, the larvae. We call them–” 

“ _Beondegi_ ,” B.Va finished with a flat, nonplussed tone. “We’re all Korean here. You’re not special because you’re in a hanbok for no reason.” 

New Year Hana crossed her arms. “I was going to a party.” 

“Better not be any illegal drugs at that party,” Officer D.Va warned. 

“Yeah, I snort cocaine while I’m with my family. ‘All right  _harabeoji_ , your turn!’” 

“I wish I still had my family,” Junker Hana mumbled. 

Their ongoing banter continued until Satya served them their meal. Junker Hana dug in with her bare hands, chewing loudly and slurping down the kingfish. New Year Hana, by contrast, ate quite delicately, as though she were painstakingly accustomed to dinner parties and company. B.Va and Officer D.Va were somewhere in the middle. At one point Satya noticed B.Va slip a chunk of meat to her queen ant. 

“This is fun!” Hana said at one point. “I really like having you guys here.” 

Were Fareeha present, Satya could imagine her saying something along the lines of  _Only Hana_ _would be egotistical enough to invite four clones of herself to d_ _inner_ _._  

Satya couldn’t help but tune their chatter out after a while. It was like someone talking into an echo chamber. Four echo chambers, actually. 

She tuned back in when she heard “I’m gonna try one more tonight.” 

“One more what?” she asked over their chatter. 

Hana immediately stopped talking. “Uh, one more…serving of this delicious dinner!” 

“You do not even eat.” 

Hana leaned over to her Junker counterpart. “Quick create a diversion!” 

Without hesitation Junker Hana kicked the nearest table leg with such force that it splintered. The table tipped toward that corner, spilling at least three plates of half-eaten food onto the floor. 

Hana hissed. “I said create a diversion, not destroy our table!” 

Junker Hana stared blankly ahead. “I’ve suffered, like,  _so_  much brain damage in the past year.” 

“All right, that is it.” Satya stood up and slammed her palms on the table in an attempt to seem intimidating. “Dinner is over. Send your clones back home.” 

The Hanas exchanged looks of displeasure, but none protested. With a few discontented mumbles they filed downstairs, Hana leading the way.  

Satya debated following them. “Can I trust you to do as I ask?” she called out after them. “Or must I follow you down there and breathe down your neck while I ensure you follow through?” 

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll do it,” Hana yelled back up to her. 

Satya shifted her focus to the mess at her feet.  _Ugh. I suppose I should get to cleaning this…and securing that table leg._  

* * *

 

“I don’t wanna go back,” New Year Hana whined. “My world is boring.” 

“I have to go back,” Officer D.Va pushed through to the front. “I have a  _job_  to do.” 

“I do have to get this queen settled into a formicarium.” B.Va peered in at the ant in her carrier. 

Hana sighed. “I know you guys have to go. But there was that one other universe we found…I really wanted to see what would come out of it.” 

“You can do it after we’re gone,” Officer D.Va said.  

“She doesn’t want to do it alone,” New Year piped up. “She doesn’t know what’s on the other side of that portal!” 

“Well then  _you_  stay with her.  _I_ need to get back to the station.” 

“It’ll only take a minute!” To prove her words Hana tore open a rift to the dimension she had located earlier. “See? I just have to reach in, and…” 

She was just elbow-deep when she managed to grab hold of something. With a tug she pulled her arm back, drawing in a hand with red painted nails, attached to an arm – and that arm was attached to a Hana in a scanty red plaid shirt, high-waisted jeans, gigantic hoop earrings, and hair in a large ponytail with one big curl on her forehead.  

“Whoa!” The new Hana got to her feet and dusted herself off. “This some kinda secret basement bash?” She glanced around at the other Hanas, her comically-oversized earrings jangling as she did so. “Seems like a kick! Can I make the scene?” 

“…What kind of universe are you from?” Hana asked her. The girl looked like she was pulled out of another century. 

The new Hana tilted her head. “What’s that supposed to mean?? Are you tryna rattle my cage??” 

Hana gleaned from the expressions of her clones that they, too, had absolutely no idea what this Hana was trying to say. “Um, I’m sorry,” she said with a frown, “but I have no idea what you’re saying. I’m you from a parallel universe. Actually we’re all clones of each other, all from different universes.” 

The new Hana seemed to process that. “Wow,” was all she said to herself. “And here I thought you were all just a bunch of squares who weren’t keen on the cool cat slang.” 

“What year is it in your universe?” Hana asked. “Just wondering…” 

“1953. Why, what year is it in yours?” 

“2076.” 

“Oh man! I punched it a hundred years into the future?? That’s wild!”  

“So do you wanna hang out with us for a while?” 

“Not me,” Officer D.Va spoke up. “I have to go back, remember?” 

“I’ll stay.” Junker Hana was watching the new Hana with great interest. 

The new Hana seemed to notice the Junker for the first time. Her expression changed, and she batted her lashes a bit. “Ooh, a greaser, huh? You know, I’ve got a pretty fly screamer back home. It’s baby blue and it rides like a dream.” 

Junker Hana continued to just stare at her. “Wow…cool…” 

“So what do we call you?” Hana asked. “We’ve all come up with different names for ourselves, to keep everything straight.” She pointed one by one to the different Hanas. “That’s Officer D.Va, that’s B.Va, that’s New Year Hana, that’s Junker Hana. I’m just Hana in this universe.” 

“Hmm.” The new Hana tapped her perfectly-painted nails against the crook of her arm. “Well my nickname in the hot rod circles is Diva, but it looks like that’s taken…how about Cruiser? That’s the name of my ride.” 

“Cruiser Hana?” 

“Cool with me.” 

_“_ _Hana?”_   

Hana froze at Satya’s voice upstairs. 

_“_ _Hana, are you finished? Did you send them back yet?”_  

“Who’s that?” Cruiser Hana peeked around the other Hanas, toward the stairs. 

Hana sighed. “It’s my friend. She wanted me to send you all back home already.” 

“Aw, really? But I just got here!” 

The door at the top of the stairs opened, spilling light into the dim basement. Hana jumped in front of the other Hanas, even though she knew her tiny body would not obstruct them all from Satya’s view. 

They made instant eye contact. Satya glared down at her. “Hana. I thought I could trust you.” 

The other Hanas all looked to her. Hana bit her lip. “Um…” 

Satya began to descend the stairs. “And is this–” She pointed to Cruiser Hana. “–another clone? After I had your word that you would not summon any more?” 

“I…” Hana glanced to the other Hanas. None seemed to have any ideas. All were staring at her, waiting for her to say something. 

_Crap._ _I don’t want her to hate me._  Hana wrung her hands.  _She’s gonna hate me. And then she’s gonna tell Fareeha, and she’ll hate me too. Argh, I should have listened!_  

“I am disappointed, Hana.” Satya stepped down off the final step, now clearly able to see the five clones attempting to hide behind Hana. “You deliberately went against my wishes and even lied to me. Do you ever consider the consequences of your actions? Of your impulses before you act on them?” 

“I…I…” 

Satya crossed her arms. “Fareeha will  _not_ be happy to hear about– _guh!_ ” 

With a burst of neon light, Hana dove toward Satya. Her form dissolved in mid-air, and by the time she reached Satya she was nothing but a ball of pink energy. She sank deep into Satya’s chest, rooting around for a grip on her heart and mind. It didn’t take long. Her powerful energy quickly took over Satya’s body inside and out, suppressing Satya’s spirit and replacing it with her own. 

After squeezing them shut during the transfer of body control, Hana opened Satya’s eyes once more. All of the other Hanas had begun talking amongst themselves, but none took their eyes off of her. 

Hana cleared her throat. And then, with Satya’s voice, she said, “There. Problem solved!” 

“What the heck is going on??” Cruiser Hana looked her up and down with visible fear in her eyes. “Are you some kinda ghost?” 

“Actually, yeah. I am.” Satya’s perception of the world was quite different from her own. It immediately started to make Hana feel a bit sick. Every sound suddenly felt so loud, and the normally-faint smell of dust and decay in the basement was now all but overpowering. A million different things were registering in her vision as crucial and important to pay attention to, even though most of them were just stupid objects that had been lying around the basement for months or years.  _This is how Satya sees the world?_  No wonder she always seemed stressed. 

“So we can stay here as long as your friend can’t kick us out, right?” New Year Hana piped up. 

“That’s what I was thinking.” Hana tried to block out the majority of useless background information Satya’s brain was apparently constantly streaming. It didn’t work very well.  _I’m not gonna be able to stay in her head for very long._  “But I don’t know if we should push it…” 

“I wanna see the future!” Cruiser Hana started up the stairs. New Year Hana was right on her tail, followed by Junker Hana. 

“Guys, I don’t – I don’t know…” 

Something in Satya’s pants pocket started buzzing. Hana swallowed as she fished out Satya’s phone and saw the incoming call from Fareeha. 

_If I don’t answer it she’ll think something’s wrong._  

Taking a deep breath, Hana answered Satya’s phone. “Hello…?” she said in her best impersonation of Satya’s speaking manner. 

“Hey, did it go okay? You didn’t call right back so I figured I’d just check–” 

“Oh, everything’s – er, everything is…quite…fine! Positively…splendid.” Hana racked her brain for more pretentious-sounding words to use. “Hana and I are…merely… _pon_ _tificating_ _…!_ ” She had no idea what that word meant. She could only recall it from an old song. 

“’Pontificating?’ What the heck is that?” 

“It means, um, we are having a wonderful time together.” 

“Did the clones go back home?” 

Hana froze.  _Son of a bitch. S_ _he must have told her as soon as I went downstairs_ _._  “Ah yes, the clones have returned from…whence they came…” 

“Oh okay, good. So, uh, any reason you’re possessing Satya?” 

Hana nearly dropped the phone. “Wh…what?” 

Fareeha’s tone wasn’t angry, just matter-of-fact. “I’ve been with her for almost five years now. You think I can’t tell when I’m talking to her and when I’m talking to someone pretending to be her?” 

“I didn’t want you guys to be mad at me!” Hana blurted. It was strange hearing Satya’s usually-reserved voice suddenly filled with audible emotion. “I didn’t send the clones back, I even summoned another one – I just think they’re really cool! But now you’re both gonna hate me! I didn’t know what to do so I just…did this…” 

She heard a sigh on Fareeha’s end of the call. “Hana, please get out of her body. Apologize to her like a mature adult and then send the clones home. You know that’s the right thing to do.” 

Hana drooped Satya’s shoulders. “I  _guess_.” 

“You can do it. I know you’re as stubborn as I am, but you can.” 

“…Meh.” 

“Okay, how about if you don’t I’ll kick your butt the second I get home?” 

“Fiiine.” Despite her protests, she was happy to have some of Fareeha’s guidance on the issue. Hana herself knew the right thing to do. It just took someone pushing her toward it to actually get her there. 

“Okay. Good.” Fareeha paused for a moment, then added, “Love ya, squirt.” 

“Yeah, yeah, love you too, you big sap.” 

She heard Fareeha chuckle on the other end. Hana ended the call and sighed.  

_Okay, fine. I’ll be a responsible adult._  

She led Satya upstairs, where the clones had gone.  

* * *

 

_H_ _m…I sense a disruption in the order of my univers_ _e._  

Golden fingertips pushed through the barrier of the otherworldly portal, followed by an entire hand of shining white metal.  

_What is this?_  

The portal widened to allow passage to its newest user. The heels of pearlescent white shoes clicked on the cold floor of the strange new place.  

She had sacrificed her human eyes some time ago. With her improved vision she could sense everything around her, even in the darkness. 

_So much…disorder._ She lifted her metal hand. It began to glow.  _I must have been summoned here to_ _set things right._  

She sensed a door somewhere above her. Without a moment’s hesitation she marched toward it. 

 


	7. MultD.Verse Theory, Part 2

“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.” 

Satya was still reeling a bit from the process of her body being forcefully taken over by an outside spirit. She sat in the old armchair in the living room, across from Hana and her posse of clones, who were squeezed onto the couch. 

“Please do not ever do that again,” was all she could say in response. 

“I won’t. I promise.” Hana gestured to the clones around her. “They all agreed they’re gonna go right home now. And I want you to be there when I send them back, so you’re totally sure you can trust me.” 

Satya nodded. “Very well. I will remain with you.” 

“I can do it right here, if that’s okay with everyone.”  

“Well the portal to my place is still open in your basement,” Cruiser Hana said, “so I can just hop back through that.” 

“Wait.” Hana paled. “We left it open.” 

“Yeah? So what?” 

“So we gotta close it quick! Anything could just walk in through there–” 

The door to the basement flew open, its slam against the wall resounding through the old house. 

Hana quickly counted the Hanas with her, her eyes widening. “That’s not one of you guys.” 

Despite her unsteadiness from earlier, Satya was on her feet in a second. She took off for the basement. A series of footsteps behind her told her the Hanas were all following her. 

Someone was walking, striding through their house. The click of heels across their wooden floor was unmistakable.  

“Do you think it’s another of us?” one of the Hanas whispered. 

“But I’m the only Hana in my world,” another said, “I think…” 

“Just stay behind me, girls.” Satya took a step back and shepherded them behind her. “I will confront the–” 

Suddenly the Hanas started shrieking. Satya whipped around, and gasped.  

Every Hana was frozen in place, encased in a sparkling blue, glass-like coating that froze them into living statues. 

“Beauty, even from chaos.” 

A woman dressed in bizarre, almost regal clothing stepped out from behind them. Her face was obscured by a strange white helmet with golden, wing-like protrusions on either side and a draping of sheer, emerald fabric in the back that flounced behind her as she moved. She wore a gown that was somehow both antiquated and futuristic in appearance – and Satya paid special note to the turquoise trimmings between the white and gold.  _That is #00FFFF. Her dress bears my exact favorite color._  

The horrible realization sank into her brain as she looked the woman over. Most of the woman’s face was hidden, but it didn’t matter. She’d spent enough years in her own body to recognize it. 

“You are…another Satya.” 

The woman’s lip curled. “No stranger may call me that. To the world, I am  _Symmetra_.” Satya could not see the woman’s eyes to know where she was looking, but it became readily apparent that she was studying Satya with some degree of interest. “We bear a striking resemblance,” she noted, in a tone largely unreadable. 

“We are the same,” Satya replied. “You are in a universe parallel to your own.” 

Symmetra sneered. “Not possible. Regardless of the universe I would never live in such squalor.” 

Satya reluctantly brushed off the insult. “Release them at once. They’ve done nothing to you.” 

“They do not belong here. I can sense that.” Symmetra circled around them, drifting her artificial fingers across their paralyzed forms. Satya noticed the original Hana’s eyes followed her as she moved. “Your inferior organic eyes are too limited to see all that I can see.” 

Hana briefly caught Satya’s stare. She slipped one hand out of the strange encasing and waggled her fingers.  _Ah. S_ _o she_ _, at least, is not trapped in there_ _._  

“Look at all this clutter.” Symmetra gestured to the wooden shelves Satya had helped Fareeha build for their pictures and other meaningful trinkets. “No wonder I was sent here. This disastrous situation must be rectified.” 

Before Satya could even react Symmetra made a sweeping gesture with her organic arm, which had begun to glow with blue energy. Suddenly everything slid off the shelves. A cylindrical, clear blue trash can materialized on the floor beneath them, and the pictures and trinkets all fell perfectly into it.  

“Stop that!” Satya jumped in front of the woman. “This is not your house! You have no influence here!” 

Symmetra said nothing. Satya attempted to take a threatening step closer to her clone, but found that her feet could not move. She looked down and, with a gasp of horror, realized her body was being rendered immobile in the same way the Hanas had. The blue light spread so quickly up her legs, to her torso and arms, and finally to her head, that she had virtually no time to react before she was frozen completely. The glass-like coating was so form-fitting that it encased the entirety of her inner mouth as well, with only a tiny hole open in the back of her throat for breathing.  

With her opposition out of the way, the mad clone began to glow all over. A sharp nod to one side of the room brought every picture down off the wall. A pointed finger at the other side began a growth of icy blue on the wall that arced out in a spiderweb-like pattern and grew until it covered the wall and started to spread to the floor.  

“Do not worry,” Symmetra cooed to her frozen counterpart. “You have let this world fall into disarray, but I will correct your mistakes.” 

“Correct  _this_ _._ ” Hana swung the frying pan from the surmai at Symmetra’s head. Symmetra didn’t even turn around. She sidestepped with the utmost grace, then spun on one heel and grabbed Hana by the wrist. 

“Such flawed technique. Is everyone in this universe so lazy?”  

She flung Hana into the nearest wall. Hana slid down the slick, ice-like coating, then skidded across the floor. While she was down Symmetra waved her arms. The rest of the house began to transform, complex and intricate works of architecture materializing seemingly from nothing. Massive pillars shot out of the ground, carving themselves into oblique designs that wouldn’t look out of place in a castle. 

“Stop destroying my house!” Hana chased after Symmetra as she disappeared into another room.  

Satya gazed out at the transformed house. It was, admittedly, pleasing to the eye – but not for a home. It looked like a palace.  _What strange power does she wield? Do I possess it as well?_  

The formations she crafted appeared to come from nothing – but that clearly was not possible. Barring some sort of supernatural force behind it – and even then Hana seemed to still adhere to most physical laws of the universe – this “Symmetra” must have been utilizing something in the atmosphere and transforming it. Air? Or perhaps the tiny, invisible particles of random matter that eventually formed into dust when enough gathered together.  _But in that case it would not be such a uniform texture and color._ _No, she must_ _be transforming something else._  

Her thoughts were interrupted by an odd noise. Satya strained to see over to the remaining frozen Hanas. Sure enough, the most recent addition to Hana’s little clone club, an oddly-dressed girl who looked like she’d listen to the kind of music Fareeha liked, was struggling to say something in her frozen state. 

“Ight!” 

Satya attempted to say “What?” 

“Ight! Is ight!” 

 _Ight?_  What on Earth could that be referring t-  _Oh! Light?_  

That was the only explanation that made sense, though it didn’t make much.  _She can convert light into physical matter?_  That seemed to violate everything she’d ever learned about light.  _That would_ _surely_ _t_ _ake years to master._ _I do not have years._  

If being with Fareeha had taught her anything, it was that brute force was an acceptable solution for most things. Satya attempted to bend her organic arm. The solid light resisted, but she pushed still harder, flexing her muscles as much as possible. To her surprise, the light construct began to crack at the stress point of her elbow.  _Hm. I am thankful now for Fareeha_ _begging me to accompany her to the gym._ With the small success boosting her morale, Satya pushed as hard as she could, putting even more pressure on the already-straining light. Once it had developed enough significant cracks, she made as much of a fist as possible and punched her way out. With one arm free it didn’t take long for her to smash the rest of the faux-glass. It fell away in shards, but before it hit the ground it dissolved away into nothing but sparkles of glimmering light.  

The moment she had enough mobility Satya rushed over to the Hanas and began breaking them out. When she broke out the one who had spoken to her, Satya asked her, “How did you know of her powers?” 

“Everyone knows the Vishkar Corp,” the girl replied. “They’ve got some crazy technology, like they’re from the future or something. They kinda run the show in my world.” 

 _Vishkar._  So even in another world Satya was still employed by them – but in that world they were a different beast entirely. “We must return my clone to her dimension. Or another. I do not really care, so long as she is not  _here_.” 

“Dead Hana is the only one who can open portals, I think,” New Year Hana said. “We should find her.” 

Satya swallowed. Finding Hana meant confronting Symmetra again. “All right. Let us find her.” 

* * *

 

They found Symmetra in the bedroom. More specifically, they found her in the bedroom holding one of the hologram projectors from off the nightstand. Hana was hovering behind her, watching her look the photo over. 

“Who is this woman?” 

It took Satya a moment to realize her clone was addressing her – the woman did not turn or even perk up at the sound of Satya’s approach. She took a step closer, and found that one of Symmetra’s gold-tipped metal fingers was pointed at Fareeha. 

“That is my partner,” Satya answered uncertainly. “Her name is Fareeha.” 

The woman’s demeanor did not change. “Partner?” 

“My…lover.” 

Symmetra set the projector down. “No wonder you have let this place fall into disarray. You have clouded your mind with distractions like romance.” The last word was spoken with an almost visceral disgust. 

“You do not belong here.” Satya attempted to hide the fear she knew was obvious in her voice. “How I choose to live has no bearing on you.” 

“But it does.” Symmetra strode over to her. Despite them being the exact same height, Symmetra’s heels allowed her to loom a bit over Satya. “You see, I help people because I care. I want to make the world a better place. A more beautiful place.” 

She drifted out into the hall, leaving Satya with little choice but to follow her. There she pointed to a pile of neatly-swept rubble in the corner – the remains of what had been displayed on the hallway’s end table. 

Satya’s eyes widened at the turquoise shards of wood scattered among them.  

The sight of the jewelry box shattered into a dozen jagged pieces pushed her over the edge. “Fareeha made that for me.” 

Symmetra sneered. “Yes, I could glean that by how garishly flawed it was.” 

Tears burned Satya’s eyes. Her legs lost the strength to hold on, and she sank to the floor. Hana was beside her in an instant, wiping her tears with icy fingers. To her surprise, the other Hanas all clustered around her as well. 

Symmetra folded her arms. “And now you cry over it.” 

Her words barely registered. Satya hugged her knees and buried her face in her lap. Her shoulders quivered as she withdrew from the attempted comfort of the various Hana clones. 

“Nothing to say for yourself?” Ever since she’d appeared Symmetra’s tone had been largely one of apathy. Now her words took on a note of emotion, sounding almost like anger. 

Satya’s throat was bone dry – she could not have spoken if she wanted to.  

“You’re not making anything better.” Hana spoke in her stead. “You’re just a bully!” 

“I am no such thing.” Through her hands Satya saw Symmetra’s shoe land near her. “Get off the floor! Have some dignity!” 

Satya could not respond. She made a tiny noise in her throat, which cracked midway through, and pulled herself into a tighter ball. 

“Are you hearing me?” Symmetra’s tone of anger ebbed just the slightest bit. “Are you…are you not able to communicate right now?” 

Satya shrugged her still-shaking shoulders, keeping her face buried. 

Symmetra exhaled. “Very well then. That…happens to me as well, sometimes. We will have to wait it out before we resume this conversation.” 

“You okay, Satya?” Hana whispered. 

Satya nodded slightly. 

“Do you need help?” 

She shook her head. 

Something materialized in her right hand. It was round and smooth, like a worry stone. Satya lifted her head slightly, to find Symmetra turned away from her. “Things like that help me,” the clone murmured. 

Satya rubbed her thumb over the hard light stone. It did have a certain soothing quality to it.  

“You…” she managed to mumble, “you broke it…” 

“It was flawed. Why would you want it?” 

Satya lifted her eyes to the masked face of the woman before her.  _She may be different, but she…is me. How_ _can I get myself to understand?_  

“In your timeline,” she said quietly, slowly, “did you have a stuffed tiger given to you by your parents?” 

Symmetra stiffened. “How do you know about that?” 

“So you still have it?” 

“…Yes.” 

She forced her voice to comply. “So you know how it is threadbare in places? With loose stitching and other assorted imperfections?” 

Symmetra’s expression was unreadable under her mask, but her chin lowered, and the fingers of her organic hand curled slightly.  

“Its value is sentimental,” she said, so quietly that it almost seemed she was saying it more to herself than to Satya. 

Satya rose shakily to her feet. Crouching before the pile of scrap wood, she picked up a piece. “All of its flaws tell a story. For instance, this spot here”–she pointed to a corner where the paint was applied much thicker than on the rest of the box–“tells that Fareeha initially began painting the box with a different color, but upon realizing that it did not dry to exactly depict my favorite shade of blue, she painted over it with what became the final, correct color.” She picked up another piece. This one had a few nails sticking out of it. “She lined the nails up at first with precise accuracy, perfectly equidistant from one another, but when the box is whole, as you look down the row you can see where she began to lose space and eventually had to cram the nails together at the end. She refused to simply use fewer nails than the project called for, because she wanted it to be sturdy.” 

Symmetra knelt beside her and sifted through the pile of shattered memories. “So this ‘Fareeha’…” 

Satya lifted her gaze to the other woman. “What about her?” 

Symmetra continued to mull over the pile before her. “You say you are me from a parallel dimension. Perhaps here I ended up on a vastly different path because of this Fareeha woman.” 

“Actually, Satya and Fareeha are dating in my universe too,” Junker Hana spoke up. 

Satya had nearly forgotten the Hanas were there. “Really?” 

“Yeah! Well, you’re not really officially together yet, but Fareeha comes and visits us in the Outback all the time. And Satya likes her a whole lot.” 

Symmetra looked from Hana to Satya. “Then it is possible that…I…am the outlier?” 

“Perhaps there is a Fareeha in your universe, just waiting for you.” Satya spoke quickly, not about to miss an opportunity to return her clone to her own world.  

“I have no time for romance, though. I have a responsibility to Vishkar.”  

Satya folded her arms. “Do you forget that I know you?” 

Symmetra mirrored her pose. “What is that supposed to mean?” 

“It means that despite your outward demeanor, internally you are utterly lonely and you crave companionship.” 

Symmetra recoiled. “You – you know nothing about me.” 

“Awww.” Hana drifted around them. “Other-world-Satya wants a girlfriend. That’s kinda cute.” 

“I do not!”  

“I have an idea,” Satya spoke up. Both Hana and Symmetra looked to her. “How about you return our house to its previous, disorderly state, and in exchange I will let you talk to my Fareeha? She is away right now, but I can video call her. You can get an idea for whether or not you would like her.” 

“What good would that do me?” 

“You do not wish to meet the most beautiful woman in either of our worlds?” 

“You guys are so freaking cheesy,” Hana murmured. 

Symmetra was silent for a moment. “…Fine. I shall restore your home.” 

With an elaborate wave of her arms the translucent blue coating over the walls, ceiling and floor began to melt away like ice. Symmetra strode through the rest of the house, making grandiose gestures almost akin to dancing. Everywhere she went the hard light dissolved, returning the house to its former, modest appearance. 

Hana picked up two shards of Satya’s jewelry box and touched them together. With a warm pink light they melded back together. Soon all of the pieces were swirling around her in mid-air, rotating and rearranging until they fit together like puzzle pieces.  

The other Hana clones all pitched in as well, picking up knocked-over hologram projectors and cleaning up anything that had been broken or tossed about in the chaos. 

“Hey, Satya?” Hana said at one point. 

Satya set a repaired photograph on the nightstand. “Hm?” 

Hana smiled her warm, luminescent smile. “You handled that really well!” 

“…Really? You think so?” 

“Yeah!” 

“Oh, well, thank you!” Satya’s cheeks warmed a bit. Then, returning to her senses, she added, “Wait a minute. Are you just trying to flatter me so I will forget about earlier?” 

Hana blinked innocently at her. A halo of pink light materialized over her head.  

Taking a cue from Fareeha, Satya plucked Hana up off her feet and flung her onto the bed. She was light as a feather, so it didn’t take much effort.  

Hana rolled over on the sheets. “Man, if you guys ever had kids they’d have some serious shaken baby syndrome.” 

Satya chuckled. “Then I suppose you will have to keep us in check.” 

“Heck yeah I – wait a minute, ‘will’?” Hana sat bolt upright. “Are you planning something??” 

Satya pushed her back down. “Now is not the time. Let us check up on my wayward clone.” 

“Okay, but after you have to tell me if something’s up!” Hana floated after her. 

“Perhaps.” 

They found Symmetra in the center of the living room. She splayed her arms dramatically outward, presenting the comparably lackluster old walls, floor and furniture arrangement. 

“Thank you.” Satya nodded to her.  

Symmetra seemed disinterested in her gratitude. “Show me Fareeha,” was all she said instead. 

“Very well.”  

Fareeha answered the call almost immediately. She was sitting in a beach chair, sipping a drink. Her beautiful dark eyes were covered by sunglasses, but even with the obstruction it was obvious, at least to Satya anyway, that her face was absolutely flawless. 

Satya held the phone up so that only her clone was visible in the shot. 

“Uh, hey,” Fareeha said, setting her drink down. “What’s up? Why are you dressed like that?” 

Symmetra stared at Fareeha for a long time, saying nothing. 

“Uh…” Fareeha lifted her sunglasses. “You okay?” 

Symmetra’s organic hand drifted up toward her mouth. Her fingers covered her lips, and she made a tiny, indiscernible noise. 

“Hi, Fareeha!” Hana popped in behind Symmetra and waved. Fareeha gave her an uncertain wave in return. 

Suddenly Symmetra flung her arm out and knocked the phone out of Satya’s hands. With both hands she covered the visible half of her face. 

Satya picked the phone up and focused it on herself instead. “Turns out I have clones as well,” she said. 

“That was a clone of you??” Fareeha balked. 

“Indeed. And she wanted to meet you.” 

“No, no, no.” Symmetra curled up into herself, giggling nervously. “I cannot. I have no experience with this.” 

“Fareeha is one of the most approachable people I have ever met.” Satya winked at Fareeha, who blushed a little. “But if you do not wish to interact with her directly then you can simply observe our interaction.” 

“Observation? All right, yes, I can do that.” Symmetra sat up and studied the two of them through her eyeless mask. 

Fareeha tried to look only at Satya. “So what’s the clone situation? Hana told me earlier that they all went back, but it looks like that’s not the case.” 

“When did she tell you–” She stopped mid-question, as the answer became obvious. “…Of course. Er, we will be sending them back shortly. My clone was just a bit…temperamental.” 

Fareeha frowned. “Sorry I’m not there to help out.” 

“Do not apologize, my love. You needed a break. And Hana and I have the situation handled.” 

“You sure? You don’t need me to come home early?” 

At that, Satya smirked. “Trying to get away from your mother already?” 

Fareeha exhaled. Leaning in close to the phone she whispered, “I think I underestimated how long a week is.” 

Satya shook her head. “Enjoy your time off, dear. I will update you once everything here is settled.” 

“You’re  _sure_  you don’t need me to go book the soonest flight I can get and come back home? There’s nothing at all that needs to be done?” 

“Absolutely nothing. I would never interrupt you and your mother’s bonding time!” 

Fareeha leaned her head back against the chair’s headrest and sighed. 

“Well, we must be going now.” Satya kissed the tips of two fingers and touched them lightly to her screen. “Talk to you later, Fareeha.” 

Fareeha returned her gesture. “It was nice to meet, uh, you.” 

Satya chuckled. “We are prepping her to potentially meet a Fareeha of her own.” 

“Heh, really? Wait–are you being literal when you say that?” 

“Of course!” 

Fareeha grinned. “So she thinks I’m cute?” 

“Let’s ask her.” Hana reached out and turned the phone toward Symmetra. “What do you think?” 

Symmetra waved her away. “Ah, no, stop!” 

“Aw, she’s cute,” Fareeha said. 

“She very nearly destroyed our house. But that is a story for when you get home.” 

“I have a feeling there are gonna be a  _lot_  of stories when I get home.” 

“Oh yes.” 

They gave each other another finger wave, swapped “I love you”s, and then disconnected. Immediately Satya turned her attention to Symmetra, who was still fidgeting a little. “Well?” 

The other woman lifted her mask, just long enough to dab some sweat from her brow. In the process Satya caught a glimpse of her eyes – they were flat across their surface and glowed a solid neon blue, like two LED screens in place of eyeballs. It was more than a little unnerving, but Satya resisted demonstrating any negative outward reaction. 

“I…should not sacrifice my work ethic for a silly romance.” She lowered the mask back down again. “But perhaps if I do someday meet my Fareeha, we can attempt something casual…something that does not impede my work.” 

“Oh, of course.” Satya nodded. “You would not want that.” 

“It would not get serious. It could not.” She let Satya lead her away, towards where Hana was readying a portal for one of the other Hanas.  

“Of course, of course.” Satya strained not to laugh out loud at that thought. Fareeha wasn’t the type of woman one could simply toy with and leave. She was the kind you fell head over heels in love with. A lifer. 

“Bye, Hana.” B.Va carefully pushed her ant queen through the portal, then turned to give Hana a quick wave. Hana waved back. Then the girl disappeared. 

“Thanks for the food!” Junker Hana disappeared through the next portal. 

Officer D.Va gave her a firm nod and a handshake before climbing through the third portal. 

“Thanks for showin’ me the future! Even if I didn’t get to see much of it it’s still total coolsville!” Cruiser Hana climbed through the next portal, which Hana left open for Symmetra. 

“Maybe we can hang out again sometime?” New Year Hana asked as Hana was opening the final portal. “You could come to one of my parties!” 

Hana’s eyes lit up. “Sounds like fun! And it’d be better than bringing everyone here again, probably.” 

New Year Hana threw her arms around Hana in a spontaneous hug. Hana hugged her back, the two of them giggling like schoolgirls. 

“Bye!” New Year Hana disappeared with a wave and a smile. 

Satya looked to Symmetra, who was eyeing the portal. “How do you craft these strange teleporters, anyway?” Symmetra asked Hana. 

“Ghost powers.” 

Symmetra seemed to consider that. 

“You had better get going,” Satya said. “You do not want to fall behind on your work.” 

“No, I do not.” She pushed a hand tentatively through the surface of the interdimensional rift before her. “I will most likely not return.” 

“That is perfectly fine with me.” 

Symmetra stepped one foot through the portal, as if dipping her toes into cold water. “So…farewell, then.” 

“Farewell!” 

Symmetra hesitated for a moment. “I apologize for trying to restructure your house.” 

“Apology accepted.” 

With that the clone vanished into the rift. Hana and Satya breathed simultaneous sighs of relief.  

“All right,” Satya said, “let’s perhaps try to keep things relatively normal for the rest of the week. Deal?” 

“Deal.” 

“Good. Now, er…” She tried to think of something that could help them both de-stress after the chaos they’d just been through. “Perhaps we can return to your video game, or something?” 

Hana’s whiskers sparked. “Okay! And maybe after that I can show you some other games. I’ve got a ton!” 

Satya smiled a tiny, tired smile at the girl’s unending enthusiasm.  

* * *

 

 _Elsewhere…_  

Fareeha wiped the sweat from her brow and adjusted her hood. The desert winds were relentless. The breeze would perhaps be satisfying on hot skin if it wasn’t accompanied by constant sand being pelted at your face. 

Such was the life of the Bedouin. 

There was an oasis around here somewhere – her clan had passed it on their last trip through these parts. It was… _Huh?_  

Through the heat haze in the distance Fareeha spotted something strange. It looked like a person – the most bizarrely-dressed person she had ever seen. As she moved hesitantly closer, she realized it was a woman. She wore a mask of some kind over her face, and a dress that seemed to glow with an ethereal blue light. 

 _“_ _A_ _ssalaamu ‘alaykoom,_ _”_  she called out uncertainly. 

The woman simply stared at her in response. 

Fareeha told the rest of her clan to wait a moment before continuing onward. She navigated the shifting sands to approach the strange woman.  

As she came closer the woman tilted her head and called out to her, “Do you not speak English?” 

That surprised Fareeha a bit. “Oh, no, I do. Just didn’t expect anyone out here to be speaking it…” 

“I have sought you out from quite far.” The woman strode toward her with ease. As she moved, Fareeha noticed, the sand shifted to accommodate her feet, leaving tiny wisps of blue light in her wake. 

“Really? Why?” 

The woman got right up close to Fareeha. Her lack of visible eyes was a little unsettling. Even through the mask, however, Fareeha could feel the woman’s stare boring into her. 

“We are meant to be lovers,” she said. 

Fareeha’s eyes went wide. “What?” 

“I have seen it play out in universes parallel to ours. Since then I have been searching for you, Fareeha.” 

“Uh–” Fareeha wiped some more sweat from her face. “Well that’s an interesting way to approach someone for a date.” 

“So you accept?” 

Fareeha couldn’t tell if it was the desert heat warming her face or a blush.  _What the heck is going on right now?_   

“Well, uh…” She lifted her hood a little, fully exposing her face to the bizarre woman. “I do like a woman who knows what she wants. But who even are you?” 

“My name is Sym…Satya. Satya Vaswani.” She paused, as if Fareeha was supposed to recognize that name. 

“Oh. Uh, okay.” Fareeha extended one hand. “I’m Fareeha. Seems like you already knew that, though.” 

Satya stared down at it. With some degree of hesitation she reached her own hand out and shook Fareeha’s. 

“So you really came all the way out to the middle of the Great Sand Sea to find me specifically? To ask me on a date of all things?” 

“Is that a problem?” 

“No, I – I guess not.” She cast a glance over to her clan, who was waiting reluctantly for her. “Are you alone?” 

“Yes.” 

“How long have you been out here?” 

“Not long. Less than a full day.” 

“Okay, well you won’t last out in the desert all alone.” Fareeha paused, weighing her options. Her clan was wary of outsiders. Hell,  _she_  was wary of outsiders. None more so than random, weirdly-dressed women appearing out of nowhere to tell Fareeha they were supposed to be lovers. 

With a sigh, Fareeha asked, “Do you want to join us for a while?” 

“Of course.” She seemed neither pleased nor displeased about this prospect. Without a full view of her face this Satya woman was extremely difficult to read. 

“All right then. I’ll just go introduce you to–” 

Before she could make a move toward her clan Satya grabbed Fareeha and pulled her in close – then planted her soft, lipstick-adorned lips on Fareeha’s chapped and sand-flecked own. Fareeha made a guttural noise of surprise, but did not pull away. They remained locked together for several long seconds, until finally Satya drew back. 

“Uh.” Fareeha massaged the back of her neck. “Wow. Okay.” 

“Was that satisfactory? Would you be willing to do it again at some point?” 

Fareeha had never had a real kiss before. And judging by the behavior of this Satya woman, neither had she. 

“How about you come along with my clan for a while and we’ll see.” 

“Great!” Satya clapped her hands together. “Then we shall fulfill our destinies and entwine our fates together.” 

“Is this the desert heat talking? Or do you always say stuff like that?” 

“Oh, I am a firm believer in fate, Fareeha. And I have seen our destiny played out before me in another world. You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, and thus I wish to pursue the same path I saw in my vision.” 

The heat she was feeling now was definitely a blush. “O-okay. Um, thanks.” 

With that she led the strange woman toward her clan. Normally she didn’t trust strangers, but for some reason, despite her odd behavior, this woman gave off an aura of trustworthiness to Fareeha. She almost felt like she already knew her. As if her entire life up until just a moment ago had simply been leading up to their encounter. 

 As they walked away Satya said, “So when shall we consummate our relationship?” 

“C-consummate?” Fareeha coughed. “Wow, uh – I guess…we’ll see where things go?” She cast a brief look over at the other woman. “Not that I’d necessarily be opposed or anything…” 


	8. Bonus Story 3: The Technogeist, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fareeha and Satya celebrate Hana's birthday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This two-parter is the final story for this fic. Part 2 will have a short epilogue attached.

For a dead girl Hana sure was into her birthday. She’d started reminding Satya and Fareeha nearly a month in advance. 

“Six days,” she said as she floated by behind them at dinner. 

“Five days!” she sang while they worked out their monthly bills. 

“ _Four days!_ ” She popped up between them while they were cuddled up together on a lazy Sunday morning. She then slowly sank back down into the mattress with a devious grin on her face. 

“I think she wants us to do something for her birthday,” Fareeha said on their way to work the next morning. 

“Mm, yes, I noticed it has appeared on every calendar in the house.” 

Fareeha sighed and tapped her fingers against the steering wheel. “What are we supposed to do for her? Throw her the world’s saddest birthday party, just the three of us?” 

“Well I would imagine anything to be an improvement over her last sixty birthdays. She’s most likely spent them all alone.” 

Fareeha mulled it over. “She doesn’t eat, so there’d be no point in making a cake. We can’t invite anybody over. I guess we could buy her a present? I don’t really know what she’d want, though.” 

“Perhaps we could take her somewhere and let her pick out her own gift.” 

“No way. She’ll pick the most expensive thing on purpose just to spite me.” 

Satya’s silence was a clear agreement. 

“Maybe we can drop by that electronics store in town later and pick up something small there. She likes that kind of stuff.” 

“True, she does. All right. I suppose we shall stop there tonight, then.” 

* * *

 

The boy at the counter stared blankly at them. “…What?” 

“We’re buying for a teenage girl,” Fareeha repeated, “but it’s a teenage girl who likes things from like the early 21st century. You got anything like that?” 

“Um, I’m sorry ma’am, but we pretty much only carry the latest technology here. You might have better luck at the secondhand store across town.” 

Fareeha looked to Satya. “Probably would be cheaper,” she said with a shrug. 

Satya wrinkled her nose. “Buying a gift secondhand? Seems a bit…tacky.” 

“She’s living in our house for free. She’s lucky she gets anything.” 

The employee was very obviously pretending not to listen to their conversation. 

Satya folded her arms. “Very well. We may find something more suited for her there, anyway.” 

Fareeha started to walk away, but stopped herself. “Oh, uh, thanks for the help.” She took the boy’s hand and gave it a firm shake. The boy weakly shook hers back, looking utterly confused. 

* * *

 

“It’s  _perfect._ ” 

Sitting amidst a pile of outdated electronics was an ancient-looking computer – probably not sixty years old, but definitely not modern. It was a sleek matte black with pink trimming and purple lettering on the worn keyboard. “Look at it. It’s got pink and everything. She’ll love it.” 

“Do you suppose it still works?” Satya ran her fingers along the screen’s dusty bezel. “It looks to have not been used for many years.” 

“Guess we can plug it in and test it out.” 

A moment later they were clearing a spot next to a wall outlet. Fareeha untangled the wires enough to plug everything in. Not looking too optimistic, Satya pushed the Power button and waited. 

It took a few seconds, but to both of their surprise the monitor lit up with some sort of bizarre pixelated purple skull logo. 

“Hm.” Fareeha settled a hand on one hip. “Must be the brand that made the computer or something.” 

“Well it appears to work, at least.” A prompt to enter a password propped up. “We will simply have to reformat it to erase the old password and files that may be on there.”  

“Yeah, this is definitely the thing we’re getting her.” Fareeha picked the computer up and tucked it under one arm. “Are there any games to go with it?” 

Satya picked begrudgingly over the pile of dingy electronics. Eventually she moved aside an old 3D printer and unearthed a stack of PC games in cracked jewel cases. She handed them to Fareeha, who then set off for the checkout with them. 

* * *

 

“Okay, so we have three days to go until her birthday,” Fareeha whispered once they’d pulled into their driveway. “Where can we hide it ‘til then?” 

“I thought of that, actually. Hana does not eat, therefore the pantry seems like a good hiding spot for it.” 

“That’s perfect.” Fareeha turned and caught Satya’s eye. With a slow, easy smile she said, “Where would I be without you?” 

“Well your clothes would certainly never match.” 

“True.” Fareeha’s smile evolved into a full grin. “How do you put up with me?” 

Satya leaned over and kissed her lightly. “Turns out life without someone singing ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ in the shower every morning is surprisingly unfulfilling.” 

After their little exchange they hatched a plan to enter the house separately. Satya went first, calling for Hana. She appeared immediately, like a puppy awaiting its humans’ return from work. “Hey! I was just getting ready to start up a stream.” 

While Satya distracted Hana, Fareeha snuck in the side door with the bagged computer. She managed to slide it silently into an empty space on the pantry floor. As soon as it was hidden away she hurried to join Satya in the hallway.  

The moment Hana spotted Fareeha she locked onto her. With narrowed eyes she drifted up into Fareeha’s face.  

“Hi, Hana.” Fareeha tried to sound casual. 

Hana stretched herself to look around Fareeha. 

“What’s up?” Fareeha stepped to the side, blocking her view of the kitchen. “How was, uh, your day?” 

Hana flat out ignored her. Instead she floated purposefully into the kitchen. 

“Hana,” Satya called after her, “where are you going?” 

They followed her into the kitchen. Hana’s pink whiskers began to glow in a color Fareeha had never seen them before, such a deep pink that they almost looked red. The glow only intensified as she slowly investigated the entire room. 

 _How does she_ _know I put the present in here?_ Fareeha groaned internally.  _I know she can feel some of my emotions, but she can’t read my mind_ _. Can she?_  

“Hana, what are you doing?” Satya managed to keep her tone neutral and merely questioning. 

Hana knelt on the floor and started pulling open the cabinets beneath the sink. “This is  _my_  house!” she shouted at seemingly nothing in particular. 

“Uh, I thought we were past this?” Fareeha folded her arms and cocked an eyebrow at her. 

Hana darted from the cabinets to the table to the pantry. In front of the pantry doors she halted.  

“Hey, uh, look at this thing over here!” Fareeha picked up the first item within reach – a fork she’d forgotten to throw in the dishwasher. “Totally more interesting than that boring old pantry!” 

Hana flung the pantry doors open with a viciousness Fareeha had never seen in the girl before. “Who the hell do you think you are?!” Upon spotting the computer she seized it and shook it violently. “Come out or I’ll drag you out!” 

“Hana, stop!” Satya tried, and failed, to restrain her. “That is your present!” 

“Why the heck are you shaking it, anyway?” Fareeha was immediately at her other side. “It’s just a computer! It’s not…alive…?” 

Hana’s hand phased through the tower and then drew back. To Fareeha’s astonishment she dragged something out with her – a purple coat or cloak of some kind.  

A little more pulling revealed an entire human, looking just as confused as them. 

Hana threw the woman down on the kitchen floor and hovered menacingly over her. “This is  _my_  turf. Go haunt somewhere else!” 

The woman turned slowly onto her back. While not quite as outdated as Hana, this lady looked like she was straight out of a crappy cyberpunk movie. Her hair was dyed purple and parted entirely to one side, and her coat and gloves were both a jarring mix of neon pinks and purples. The exposed half of her head had streaks of purple light illuminating it, similar in appearance to Hana’s whiskers.  

“There’s a…” Fareeha pointed dumbly at the computer. “There was a…lady…in the…computer.” 

The woman looked up at Fareeha. The back of her head was laid directly on their cold tile floor – Hana gave her no room to sit up at all. She rolled her head to the other side to look at Satya, then looked back to Hana. “Wow,” she murmured, “my base looks really different.” 

“This isn’t your ‘base’," Hana spat. “It’s my  _house_.” 

Rubbing her head, the woman pushed Hana away enough to sit up. “How did I get in someone else’s house? Last thing I remember I was hiding from those assholes who…” She trailed off into an inaudible mutter. 

“How long were you inside that computer?” Satya asked with a frown. 

“I was inside a computer?” She climbed to her feet, still looking around in obvious confusion.  

Hana stamped one weightless foot on the floor. “Stop talking to her! She’s invading my haunting grounds!” 

“I think she’s lost.” Fareeha eyed the computer. “You do know you’re dead at least, right?” 

The woman stared at her for a long time. “…I kind of remember hearing someone trying to get in. I was hiding…I think I pissed somebody off.” 

“What year was that? Do you remember?” 

“2057.” 

“So you have been sealed away for nearly 20 years?” Satya asked. 

“What? What year is it now?” 

“2076.” 

At that the woman’s disposition shifted. “It’s been nineteen years?? I gotta get back to my base! Where did you find this computer?” 

Satya blinked. “At a secondhand store.” 

The woman’s eyes widened, then narrowed as she snarled. “Those assholes must’ve stolen my shit and sold it all. I’ll never get it all back!” 

“I’m really sorry to hear that.” Hana started pushing her toward the front door. “But you’ll never know if you don’t start looking! So, bye!” 

“Wait, I don’t even know where I am!” The woman struggled as Hana pushed her out the door. “I was  _murdered!_  I’m gonna need more information before I can–” 

Hana slammed the door. “There.” She wiped her hands together dismissively. “Problem solved.” 

Of course a split second later the woman was back inside. This time, however, she was giving off a neon purple glow. 

“If I can’t get back to my base then I need to make a new one.” 

The lights overhead began to flicker, then dimmed and took on a purple tint. Bathed in violet light, the kitchen then looked more like a nightclub. 

“Ooh.” The woman tapped her long-nailed gloves against her chin. “I didn’t know I could do that.” 

Before Satya or Fareeha could protest the woman began changing all sorts of things. All of their appliances and electronics, including the unplugged old computer, lit up with the same purple skull logo from earlier. A bizarre violet fog began to seep out of them as well.  

“Oh no no no no.” Hana grabbed the woman by the collar of her shirt. “This is  _not_ happening. Find another house to –  _argh!_ ” 

The woman drew her hand back in surprise. Some kind of pink, laser-like light had shot out from her fingertips and enveloped Hana. Hana’s form flickered – and then disappeared. 

“What did you do to her??” Fareeha was at the woman’s throat instantaneously. “Where is she??” 

“I don’t know, I don’t know!” All the electronics in the room started going haywire. 

Thankfully a few seconds later Hana phased back into the realm of human perception. “What the hell was that?!” she immediately started on the woman. 

The woman ignored her, and instead continued testing her powers. The screens of every appliance changed to display an armada of scrolling lines of code, all the same color as her spiritual energy. The dim lights obscured the details of the room and cast bizarre shadows in its corners.  

The woman pulled up a chair in front of Satya’s affected laptop and immediately started tampering with the code on-screen. 

“Excuse me.” Satya pulled the chair back out, away from the table. “That is mine.” 

“I need it right now. Deal.” 

The dustbuster Fareeha used to temper Hana’s tantrums was in the utility closet in the hall, just a few steps from the kitchen door. While Satya and the new ghost were busy bickering she slipped out into the hallway and quietly retrieved it. Upon closing the closet door she realized Hana was floating beside her. Fareeha held the mini vacuum up and waggled her eyebrows. Hana nodded eagerly. 

“Hey, new ghost,” Fareeha called out once she returned to the kitchen. “Can I show you something cool?” 

“Call me Sombra.” The woman, Sombra apparently, rose reluctantly from her seat. “What?” 

Fareeha flicked the vacuum on and pointed it at Sombra. A momentary look of confusion crossed the ghost’s face before she started shrieking – her arm was dissolving into smoke and being sucked straight into the mouth of the dustbuster. She tried to pull away, but it soon caught the rest of her body, distorting her form into little more than a cloud of purple smoke. 

With one final screech she was sucked completely into the tiny vacuum. Fareeha quickly plugged up the mouth of it with a dishtowel.  

“Okay, now we drive this somewhere far away and ditch it. Maybe dump it into a body of deep water.” 

“ _I_  say we fling it into another dimension.” Hana was ready and waiting to tear open a dimensional rift for just such a purpose. 

Before they could decide on a fate for the odd ghost, the vacuum began to glow purple. It made a series of strange beeps and then suddenly started blowing outward, popping the dishtowel out. Seconds later the sucked-up smoke filled the room, then condensed into Sombra’s human form. 

Fareeha chuckled nervously. She pushed the dustbuster into Hana’s hands. Hana handed it right back to her. 

“Wow.” Sombra drifted toward them with an unreadable expression. “That was… _so cool!_ ” She snatched the dustbuster from Fareeha and tossed it over her shoulder. It hit the floor with a crash. “I guess being dead has some privileges. I can do whatever I want now!” 

“Yeah, you can!” Hana crossed her arms. “Somewhere  _else._ ” 

That got a laugh out of Sombra. “And who’s gonna stop me from staying here? A teenager in a Hello Kitty t-shirt?” 

Hana laid an indignant hand over the cat face on her shirt. 

“How about a former sergeant of the Egyptian armed forces?” Fareeha cracked her knuckles. 

“Oh. Oh no.” Sombra leaned on Fareeha. “I’m gonna get roughed up by a big strong military lady. This is horrible. Whatever will I do?” 

Fareeha grabbed her by the arm and twisted it. “Ow! Oh, the pain I’m totally feeling right now!  _¡_ _Dios_ _m_ _í_ _o_ , have mercy!” 

“You do know ghosts can’t feel pain, right?” Hana whispered to Fareeha. 

With a sigh Fareeha released Sombra. Sombra made a face at her, and then resumed using Satya’s computer. 

“Hey, so, uh,” Hana settled into a chair opposite Sombra. “Can I talk to you for a minute? Spirit to spirit?” 

“I don’t have time to chat, pipsqueak. I’m trying to take down a multinational conglomerate. Jeez, how does this computer even work?” 

“Perhaps one of us would be willing to show you if you would actually cooperate.” Satya’s normally angelic face was soured by a scowl. 

“No time. I’ve already lost nineteen freaking years here.” She closed Satya’s laptop and dragged her own bulky computer out of the pantry. 

“What corporation are you even trying to ‘take down’ anyway?” Fareeha pulled out the chair opposite Sombra and sat down. Hana said nothing, but the look on her face spoke volumes. It would almost be funny if they weren’t in such a precarious situation, with a potentially dangerous spirit trying to take over their house. 

“That’s classified info.”  

“Well we can’t help you if we don’t know what you’re trying to do. Hell, the company you’re attacking might not even exist anymore.” 

Sombra furrowed her brow. Chewing over that response for a minute, she eventually said, “You’re right.” 

“Uh, since when are we helping this lady??” Hana’s whiskers were actively sparking now. “We just help every rando who appears in our house? If there’s a home invasion are we gonna help the robbers?” 

“She has a point,” Satya added. Hana puffed out her chest triumphantly. “And rewarding this behavior will only reinforce it.” 

“I’m not a dog,” Sombra said. “I know damn well you don’t want me here. And I don’t want your help if I don’t need it. I just have no idea where to start. I’m kind of off my game right now.” 

“Aren’t you concerned that you got, you know, murdered?” Fareeha asked. “If that happened to me it’d be my primary concern, I think…” 

“I know who killed me. That’s what I get for trying to barter with gangs.” She pulled something up on her computer. “Yeah, it’s still around. Looks like it’s bigger than ever, too.” 

Hana leaned over and read the screen. As she did her eyes went wide – and a malicious grin split her face.  

“Hey guys,” she said as she beckoned them over to the computer, “still want to help?” 

On the old, dusty screen, clear as day, was Vishkar’s commercial website. 

“Oh boy.” Fareeha crossed her arms. “Did you ever end up in the wrong house.” 

Sombra glanced between the three of them. “Why?” 

Fareeha still had her Vishkar security lanyard in her pocket from work. She pulled it out and dangled it between her fingers. 

“Both Fareeha  _and_  Satya work for Vishkar,” Hana gloated. “In fact Satya is like, a really big deal there! So they’re  _not_  gonna help you.” 

Sombra’s eyes lit up. “You think I’m in the wrong house? Now I can get all the info I need!” She stepped intimidatingly close to Satya. “You’re a big wig at Vishkar?” 

“Well, sort of. I am one of their lead Architechs–” 

Sombra grabbed Satya by the shoulders. With a spark of blinding light she pushed herself into Satya’s body. 

Hana was immediately on it, trying to pull Sombra back out as she had done in the computer. But Sombra took control of Satya with reckless speed and force. Before Hana could even reach inside of her Satya was off and running, grabbing her keys off the table as she bolted out the door. 

“Hey!” Fareeha rushed after her, very nearly catching up to her with her longer legs. Before she could reach her the back door slammed itself shut and the electronic lock’s screen changed to display nothing but a purple skull. “Shit!” She considered kicking the door down, but the practical section of her brain stopped the impulsive section before any permanent damage could be done. 

Hana flew out through the door, but returned just a few seconds later. “She took off in Satya’s car.” 

“Shit. Fuck! Can you open the lock?” 

Hana stuck her hand inside the lock and fiddled with it for a minute. Eventually the door creaked open. Fareeha was out the door in a second, trailed by Hana. She flung open the door to her truck and jumped in. Hana settled into the passenger seat beside her. Without a moment’s hesitation Fareeha punched the gas and sped out of the driveway. 

“Do you think she’s going to Vishkar?” Hana asked. 

Fareeha kept her gaze locked on the car weaving in and out of traffic a ways ahead of them. “Yeah. She’s heading towards it. How does she know exactly where it is? Can she read Satya’s mind?”  

“Actually, yeah.” Hana leaned against the window. “When we possess a mortal we sort of get hit with all their thoughts and memories at once. It’s like learning everything about the person in the blink of an eye.” 

“Really?” Fareeha winced as she ran a Very Yellow Light in an effort to keep up with Satya/Sombra’s erratic driving. “Did that happen with me when you…?” 

“Mhm.” 

“So you know everything about me?” 

Hana stared straight ahead. “I know way too much.” 

Fareeha coughed. “Great.” 

Satya veered around another driver, just narrowly avoiding a car on the other side of the road. “She’s gonna get her killed!” Fareeha sped up in a desperate attempt to end up behind her.  

“You’re gonna get  _yourself_  killed.” Hana gestured to a car Fareeha had changed lanes in front of and just missed hitting. “You know where she’s going. Why are you rushing like a maniac?” 

“Because I–” She hesitated. “…I guess you have a point.” She slowed down to a safer speed, though just barely.  

“And you know,” Hana added, “I could jump into Satya’s car with them. I doubt I can change that Sombra lady’s mind, but…” 

“Could you try? Because this has the potential to get really bad, especially if they actually make it to Vishkar.” 

“Okay.”  

Hana was gone a moment later.  

Drawing in a deep breath, Fareeha tried to remain calm and pursue Satya without getting either of them killed in the process. 

* * *

 

Being possessed was the strangest feeling. When Hana had possessed her some weeks ago it had felt almost anesthetic – like being put to sleep before a surgery. Everything around began to drop out, sounds growing distant, the lights all dimming. Her limbs suddenly felt too heavy to move and her eyes, her eyes grew so very tired. It was an irresistible invitation to a welcoming sleep. And it was peaceful – she had awoken feeling oddly refreshed, as though she had just taken a very effective power nap.  

Apparently that was a testament to Hana’s individual skill. This new ghost, Sombra? She was like being pried open in a med student’s very first procedure. 

It hurt. Satya’s bones ached from deep inside as Sombra attempted to wrench control of the body from her. Satya felt drained of energy, but certainly not comfortable enough to fall asleep. She struggled against Sombra as the unfamiliar ghost overpowered her and pushed her body in a direction it did not want to go, all while she was quite conscious of it.  

 _Surrender control of my body immediately!_  she demanded from somewhere within the void of her own self. 

“Nah,” Sombra used Satya’s voice to reply. “I need it.” 

Her driving was unspeakably awful. At first Satya assumed it was due to the less-than-synergistic possession, but she realized as they narrowly avoided a collision with an upcoming car that Sombra seemed to have absolutely no idea how to operate her vehicle.  

 _Why are you driving like this? You are going to get me killed!_  

“Oh relax, I’m doing fine. Actually I’d say I’m doing really well for someone who never got her license.” 

 _You don’t have your license?!?_  

Sombra bombed straight through a red light. A car coming from her left had to slam on its brakes to avoid t-boning them. 

“Hey, your girlfriend is following us.” Sombra nodded to the sideview mirror. Sure enough, Satya noticed Fareeha’s big blue pickup truck quickly closing in on them.  _Oh, thank goodness. Perhaps she can help me._  

“You know I can hear your thoughts, right? She’s not gonna be doing anything to interfere.” 

 _What makes you think that?_  

Sombra swerved into oncoming traffic. Horns blared as she just narrowly made it back over the line before a bus took them out.  

 _Stop that!_  

“Maybe I’m feeling suicidal. Maybe I’ll drive off the nearest bridge.” 

Fear welled inside Satya, despite her best attempts to tamp it down. She fought with a renewed vigor for control of her body. “Whoa there.” Sombra abruptly braked. The person behind them very nearly smashed into them. “You’re making it  _very_  hard to concentrate. I could end up in an accident!” 

 _Please, just let me have my body back. I will help you!_  

“How many times do I have to tell you I can read your thoughts?” Sombra smirked. “Jeez, you really thought you could bold-face lie to me at the same time I’m reading your mind?” 

Satya fell silent. She had little choice but to simply retreat deeper into herself, trying to ignore the fact that her body was completely at the mercy of an aggressive foreign entity. 

“So what’s your plan, anyway?” 

The familiar voice pulled Satya a little closer to the surface. Although she could not control them, she could see through her own eyes – and she was never so happy to behold Hana’s sweet face. The girl had materialized in the passenger seat beside her, and was staring over at them.  

Sombra returned her gaze to the road, preventing Satya from seeing Hana anymore. “You wouldn’t understand, kid. Suffice to say I got important things to do.” 

“You don’t need fleshies to carry it out. You got the information out of Satya. You’re a ghost now, you can get inside Vishkar and mess things up  _easily._ ”  

Sombra didn’t reply. 

“But that’s not why you’re doing this, is it?” Hana’s voice was unusually serious. “You’re mad and upset that you’re dead, that someone killed you. So you’re taking it out on someone who’s still living.” 

“Shut up.” Sombra crossed over the line to make an abrupt left turn. “I’m not bothered by it.” 

“Sombra, I get it.” Hana’s tone softened just a little. “When I first realized I died I was  _pissed._  Pissed and miserable. I spent weeks just drifting in and out of existence, wishing I could die again and just be done with everything.” She leaned over until she was back into Sombra and Satya’s line of sight. “We’re all here because we’ve got unresolved business in the mortal realm. I don’t think yours is trying to perform one-woman takedowns of huge corporations.” 

Sombra did not respond. She wrapped Satya’s fingers tight around the steering wheel and stared straight ahead. Satya could feel a shift in the ghost’s energy, like it was heating up inside her. 

“You know you can do anything now, right?” Hana continued. “You can travel anywhere. You can see anything in the world. You’re totally free.” 

“I’ll never be happy until the assholes who ruined my home pay for it.” 

“And are those the same guys who murdered you?” 

“Far from it.” Sombra slowed the car a bit. She seemed to be keeping an eye on Fareeha, who was right behind them now. “I was killed by people who were just trying to survive on the streets, same as me. Someone probably paid them to kill me. Money is food. Food is survival.” She narrowed her eyes. “No, it’s Lumérico and Vishkar that ruined my home. Chased people like me into the darkest corners of the city and forced us to hide our whole lives, because we weren’t ‘good’ for their image.  _They’re_  the ones I want to destroy.” 

“Why? What’s that gonna accomplish?” 

“It’s going to help everyone they’ve ever treated like shit! Obviously.” 

Fareeha’s truck was so close behind them that her truck’s bumper was no longer visible. She was focused wholly on Satya, paying seemingly no attention to anything on the road around her. 

“But you don’t need Satya’s body to do that,” Hana pressed. “You can get into Vishkar yourself. You’re a spirit! No security can track you. No mortal can arrest you. You’re unstoppable when you’re not in a fleshie’s body!” 

“We’ll see what happens when I get there.” 

“No, we won’t! Because you’re gonna let her go. Right now.” 

Sombra turned to her. “And, like I said earlier, who’s going to stop me?  _You?_ ” 

“Yeah, I will!”  

“Okay, how–” 

Suddenly Satya felt a second invasive presence enter her body. This one was immediately familiar – she knew in a second that it was Hana.  

“Whoa, hey!” Sombra shouted. “You can’t just get in this body with me!” 

“Apparently I can.” To an outside observer it would appear Satya was having an impassioned argument with herself. “And I’m much stronger than you.” 

“You’re nothing but a pain in my ass. Get out!” 

Amidst their fighting Satya struggled to take control of her hands. She managed just enough to make an attempt at steering the car, which had been utterly forgotten by the two ghosts. Her mind was racing with the streamlined thoughts of three different minds, all with three very different goals for her body.  

“Vishkar and Lumérico ruined my life! I want everyone involved with both of them to suffer!” 

“Satya probably wasn’t even  _alive_  when Vishkar screwed you over. Leave her and Fareeha out of it!” 

“Fuck you, you don’t know what I went through! Lumérico didn’t care about us, we were just a bunch of orphaned little mouths to feed. Just more money out of their pockets. And then Vishkar stepped in and started building over everything we had…” 

“So you have a sob story. So does everyone. I was on top of the world when I died! I had everything. And it all went to hell because of one stupid mistake I made. I was only nineteen!” 

“At least you  _had_  a life! I had to shed my whole identity, I – I can’t even remember my real name!” 

“That still doesn’t–” 

The blast of a truck horn drowned out their argument. Satya veered desperately away from the traffic they’d driven into, but was unable to muster enough control to get them out of the way.  

Someone in the body slammed on the brakes. A loud  _crunch_  jerked her forward as Fareeha must have slid into her from behind.  

The headlights of the massive eighteen-wheeler bearing down on them flooded the interior of the tiny car, reflecting in Satya’s eyes as she was powerless to do anything but watch their fate unfold before her.


	9. The Technogeist, Part 2

_Satya? Can you hear me?_  

With a groan, Satya slowly opened her eyes. Hana’s face, pushed up close to hers, came into focus.  

“Oh, good.” Hana took Satya’s face in both hands. “Okay, uh, something really bad happened. I just need you to – just, don’t look around, okay? Trust me. Just look at me.” 

“Why?” Satya sat up. As she did Hana maintained a hold on her, forcing them to look only at each other. “What happened?” 

As soon as she stopped speaking she heard something in what sounded like the far distance – people talking. People barking orders. Sirens. 

Behind Hana Satya caught a glimpse of Sombra, who was sitting on her knees a meter or so away. Hana caught her eyes drifting and moved into the way. “Don’t look. Don’t look.” 

“What am I not looking at?” At that point Satya was scared to look at anything but Hana. 

Hana entwined her fingers with Satya’s. Usually cold and not-quite-fully-tangible, like ice water, this time Hana’s flesh felt like nothing at all. Solid, but like nothing.  

“A truck hit your car,” she said. 

“Oh no, is it totaled?” She loved that car. The thought of it being destroyed was utterly heartbreaking. 

“Um…” Hana tugged at the collar of her shirt. “It’s kind of a bad news–good news situation. Bad news is yes, the car is totaled…” 

Satya tilted her head, waiting. 

“The, uh, ‘good’ news is that that doesn’t really matter…because you’re dead.” 

The words hung in the air between them. Everything else was silent then. Distant. 

“…What…?” 

Hana’s eyes were round and full of sincerity. She was very clearly not joking. 

“Fuck. Shit.” Sombra was muttering from behind her. “I didn’t mean to – I’m not a killer. I wouldn’t have done that on purpose. I was bluffing about driving off the bridge. I never meant for this to happen.” 

Her form dissolved into a body of purple smoke. It drifted on the wind, in the general direction back toward their house. 

Satya slowly broke eye contact with Hana. Ignoring the girl’s protests, she turned and took in the sight of the accident for the first time. 

The truck had apparently tried to swerve. It was flipped on its side. Crushed underneath it was the battered shell of what had once been Satya’s car. It was completely demolished under the weight of the truck’s trailer, its windows blown out, shattered glass all around. A team of paramedics and police officers were clustered around it, trying to get in and determine if there were any survivors inside the car. 

Her eyes trailed then to the almost, but not quite as thoroughly, totaled blue pickup truck crushed into the rear of her car. “F-Fareeha.” It was the only thought she could vocalize. “What has become of Fareeha?? Is she all right??” 

Hana turned and fixed a pointed stare at an ambulance parked on the side of the road. The back was open. She could just make out a person on a stretcher inside, with multiple paramedics surrounding them. 

“She’s dying,” Hana said. Her tone was low, devoid of emotion. “I can see her aura.” 

“This…this cannot be.” Satya hugged her knees as she curled up on the pavement. “It can’t be. It can’t. No, no, no.” She rocked back and forth, trying to find some semblance of comfort from one of her oldest coping mechanisms. 

Hana attempted to reach out to her. Satya inched away. Without Hana blocking her view she could get a better look at the scene around her. The road was blocked off, but that hadn’t stopped curious bystanders from crowding around like a bunch of vicarious vultures seeking some evening entertainment. A ways down the road she could see a camera crew setting up as well. Everyone on scene was walking right past the two of them, as if they were not even there. 

She rose unsteadily to her feet. “I need t-to get to Fareeha.” She attempted to take a step forward, but upon putting her foot down it simply…continued down into the pavement. Satya stumbled. Hana managed to catch her before she fell headfirst into the earth.  

“You’re still weak. You don’t have a solid form yet.” 

Regardless, Satya attempted to drag herself toward Fareeha. It felt almost akin to swimming, but she struggled to stay “afloat” on the pavement. She had hardly made any progress at all when suddenly something took her by the hand and lifted her. Hana flew effortlessly, as if she’d been born with the ability. Satya clung to her. 

They landed beside the paramedics within the ambulance. Satya covered her mouth and stared, horrified, down at the sight of Fareeha, battered and bleeding, on the stretcher before her. There was something around her that Satya had never seen before – it resembled blue flames, although they were weak, as if the faintest breeze would snuff them out for good.  

Hana reached out and ran a hand through Fareeha’s hair. It was matted with sweat and, Satya realized with a sinking stomach, blood. Her eyes were not open. The voices of the paramedics were tempered, but they carried clear undertones of urgency.  

 _We’ll have to airlift her. She’ll never make it otherwise._  

 _I_   _don’t know if she’ll survive the trip._  

 _There’s nothing else we can do for her here._  

“Fareeha…” Satya tried to take her hand, though without a solid form it was impossible. “You did not deserve this.” 

Although Satya could not physically touch Fareeha, when their hands made contact Fareeha’s eyelids twitched just a little. They did not open, but it was  _some_  sort of response at least. 

“Fareeha?” She touched both hands to Fareeha’s. “Can you feel me here with you?” 

A machine mounted to the wall started beeping. “Shit,” one of the paramedics hissed as he wrapped something around Fareeha’s arm. “We’re losing her. She’s not going to make it to the hospital, even with an airlift.” 

“It’s okay, Fareeha.” Hana stroked her hair some more. “We’re here whenever you’re ready.” 

Satya bit her lip. It felt like she should be crying, but she had no physical tears to cry. “I am so sorry, Fareeha…I’m so sorry...” 

Fareeha’s fingers curled slightly, almost as if they were trying to wrap around Satya’s. Satya leaned down and laid a gentle kiss on Fareeha’s forehead.  

“I am here for you, my love. Whatever happens next…we will deal with it together. As we always do.” 

* * *

 

 _Well, well, well. Not quite how_   _I w_ _as expecting things to play out!_  

Fareeha sat up and rubbed her head. Everything around her was dark – it was like she was floating in a void. Likewise, there was no sound, save for one unfamiliar, feminine voice echoing through the vast emptiness. 

“What’s going on?” She tried to sound unaffected by her disorienting surroundings. “Where’s Satya?” 

Something like a spark ignited in front of her, rapidly expanding into the shape of a human. The light solidified to create a woman with pale skin and platinum blonde hair dressed in all white. She extended her arms, and behind them expanded a mighty pair of golden wings.  

Fareeha squinted in the bright light the woman radiated. “Who are you…?” 

The woman smiled. Her face was angelic, but just beneath the surface lay something less than divine. Her eyes were calculating as they looked Fareeha over, and her smile seemed practiced, professional. 

“I’m sorry to say your beloved Satya didn’t make it.” 

“What?? She’s–she’s–??” 

The woman gave a curt nod. “As you will soon be, too.” 

Fareeha narrowed her eyes as she gazed down at her hands. “I don’t remember much. I was chasing after Satya…” 

The woman laid one hand atop Fareeha’s. Her fingers were ice cold, like Hana’s. “Listen to me. You’re running out of time. And I have an offer to make you.” 

“An...offer?” Reminded of her last "offer" with the Reaper, Fareeha hesitated. "What is it?" 

The woman retrieved a staff from her back. It glowed with golden light. “You and Satya were accessories to a very serious crime. Do you remember?” 

“I…no? What crime did we commit?” 

The woman turned away, waving her staff around idly. “I would think you would remember exiling the grim reaper to another dimension.” 

Fareeha froze.  _Oh. That._  

“The universe has been quite a bit more chaotic since then. Us angels have been pulling double and even triple shifts escorting mortal souls to the afterlife in his absence. It’s exhausting! And that isn’t supposed to be our job.” 

Fareeha blinked. “Um…sorry…?” 

When the woman turned back around her professional smile was bigger than before. “Oh, don’t worry! That’s actually why I’m here today!” 

“Wait, why? To punish us?” 

“Oh, no, no. You see, I’m the angel of Mercy. I’m willing to grant you a second chance.” 

Fareeha’s eyes went wide. “A second chance? Wait, a second chance at what?” 

“At life! I am willing to restore your lives. All I need from you”–she waved a gloved hand nonchalantly–“is an agreement.” 

Fareeha was immediately suspicious. “What kind of agreement?” 

“I will restore you, and you may live full, long lives.” The woman paused for a moment. “But when you die, you will become reapers. You will remain in this realm until you have escorted all of your required souls, plus the remaining souls Reyes was not able to transport because of your interference. Only then can you move to the afterlife.” 

“How many souls would we have to reap?” 

“We’ll decide when you’ve done enough.” 

“So it could take months? Or years?” 

“Depends on how quickly you can achieve your goal. Could take months. Could take centuries.” 

“I don’t want to subject Satya to that!” 

The woman shrugged. "Hm. Well then come along I guess, if you don't want to be revived then it's time for you to pass to the afterlife." 

“Wait! I don’t – I don’t wanna die…” Fareeha scrambled backward. “I’m just starting to reconnect with my mom, and Satya and I have been talking about…maybe adopting a kid...” 

The angel did not seem moved by her words. She floated before Fareeha with her arms folded, simply staring down at her.  

Fareeha gritted her teeth. “I’m human. Of course I want to live. You know that. You know I won’t say no.” 

The woman maintained her nonthreatening smile. “The choice is yours, mortal.” 

Somewhere in the faint distance some noises began to bleed into the void.  _We’re losing her._ _Even with the airlift s_ _he’s not going to make it to the_ _hospital._  

“Is that about me?” 

The woman nodded. 

Fareeha slowly closed her hands into fists. “I can’t die,” she uttered. “Not now.” 

“So you accept my offer, then?” 

The angel’s eyes were sharp. Piercing. Fareeha knew she’d be playing right into her hand by accepting the offer. But she just couldn’t let go of her life yet. And Satya… 

“Fine. I accept.” 

A genuine smile grew to replace the angel’s practiced first one. “Excellent!” She clapped her hands together. “It’ll be great to have some extra help around here.” With that she raised her staff and held one palm up toward the sky. “Have fun! See you when you die again!” 

Light and sound began to flood into the darkness around her. Fareeha stumbled and collapsed to her knees.  

 _I love you Satya…I hope you’ll understand._  

* * *

 

 _Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep._  

A faint, rhythmic sound roused Satya from her unconscious state. Her eyes felt glued shut – she had to force them open. As soon as she blinked away the blurriness marring them she realized she was in a strange bed in a strange room.  

A hospital room. 

“Oh good, you’re awake.” A nurse was at her side, checking a monitor. “How are you feeling?” 

Satya glanced around at the medical apparati surrounding her bed. Her heart was beating. Her lungs were functional. She had a pulse. “I am…surprised to be alive.” 

“We’re just as surprised as you! That truck was completely on top of your car. It’s nothing short of a miracle that all three of you survived.” 

Satya hesitated. “All…three?” 

The woman smiled and nodded. “Your daughter is downstairs, on the Under 21 floor. She’s awake and, all things considered, in good spirits.” 

“My…?” She stared at the woman in confusion for a brief moment, until the realization dawned on her foggy brain. “You’re talking about…Hana…?” 

“She is your daughter, right? We’re just going by what she told us.” 

“You are treating Hana right now?” 

The woman nodded. “She’s in surprisingly good shape considering the state of the car. We’re pretty much just giving her some fluids and treating her for some cuts and bruises.” 

 _Fluids? Cuts and bruises?_ How could Hana have any of those things? And why would she decide to show herself here? Was she looking for sympathy or something? 

“What about Fareeha?” 

The woman stepped back and gently pulled aside the curtain that divided the small room. Satya sat up as best she could. Sure enough, curled up in the next bed was Fareeha. She had an IV pole and a few monitors attached to her, but not much else.  

“She’s sleeping right now, but her condition is stable. She’s actually doing very well.” 

Satya gazed over at her sleeping partner.  _How is this possible? I thought she was dying._  

“I have to say,” the nurse continued, “you three really are a miracle case. I’ve never seen someone recover so well from such a bad accident.” 

Of course she wanted desperately to speak with Fareeha, but she reluctantly decided to let her rest a while. “Would it be possible to speak to Hana?” she whispered instead. 

“Oh, we could probably bring her up to you two. She’s already been up and moving around.” 

“I would appreciate that.” 

The nurse called someone on Hana’s floor. The woman on the other end of the line said Hana would be up in a minute. 

Sure enough, not a minute later there was a knock at the door. The nurse ushered Hana in. 

The moment Satya’s eyes fell upon her she could tell something had changed. Hana’s form was as solid as any mortal in the room. Her eyes no longer glowed with otherworldly energy, and her whiskers, once ablaze with neon light, were now nothing but simple, mundane pink face paint that was smudged in more than one place. 

They stared at each other for a long minute. Then Satya reached gingerly out toward her. Hana did the same. Upon making contact Satya felt, for the very first time, warmth from Hana’s flesh. They entwined their fingers together, and Satya gave Hana’s comparatively smaller hand a light squeeze. 

“I’ll come right back.” The nurse politely excused herself.  

The moment she was gone from the room Hana cast a glance toward the door. Upon confirming no one was entering she said, “I’m alive.” 

Satya looked her over with incredulity. “I noticed you seem different. But…how? Is that even possible?” 

“I have no idea. But I can feel it. I’m breathing. I’m bound by gravity. And I’m…hungry.” She rested a hand on her stomach. “I had almost forgotten how weird a feeling that is.” 

“I don’t understand this.” Satya shook her head, her gaze dropping to the sterile white bedsheets that covered her lap. “We were both dead. Nothing changed. Nothing happened. How can we suddenly – how can  _you_ _–_ _?_ ” 

Their voices must have woken Fareeha, for Satya’s questioning was interrupted by a groan from the other side of the room. “Fareeha?” Satya leaned over as much as she could, careful not to tear out any of her wires. 

Hana moved to stand at the foot of Fareeha’s bed. Fareeha opened her eyes and looked around. “…Did it work?” she asked. “Is Satya alive?” 

Hana raised an eyebrow. “Did  _what_  work?” 

Fareeha sat up, her head in her hands. “Ugh, I feel like I got hit by a truck. Literally.” 

“Fareeha?” 

Fareeha’s head snapped up at Satya’s voice. “Oh thank God, you’re alive!” 

“I…wasn’t. I am still not sure what happened.” 

Fareeha’s excitement waned. “Yeah, that, um – that was me.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“I was…dying, I guess, and I got approached by this creature, a lady with wings holding this big golden staff. She knew what we did to the Reaper. She wanted to make a deal with me. I accepted the deal because I felt like I had no choice.” 

“What was the deal?” Satya asked. 

Fareeha curled up on the bed, laying her cheek on the plain white pillow beneath her. She cleared her throat and kept her eyes on the floor rather than on Satya or Hana. 

“Our lives for our afterlives, basically.” 

“What?” 

“She said she’d save your life, and mine too, if I agreed that in death we’d volunteer our services as Reapers. She wants us to help escort souls until we’ve covered both ourselves and all the remaining souls the last Reaper never got to help. I didn’t want to agree to it, but I didn’t want you to die. I wanted more time together.” 

Satya’s eyes stung with the beginning of tears. “Oh, Fareeha.” She made a loose fist and settled it over her heart. “I love you so much. In your position I would have done exactly the same.” The words brought a small, weary smile to Fareeha’s face, but Satya was not quite finished. “And I am not sure if you realize this, but your ‘deal’ had an unexpected result.” 

“Huh? What was it?” 

Hana moved into her line of vision. For the first time since waking up Fareeha stopped to actually take a thorough look at the girl in front of her. At first her expression was blank, but as she studied Hana her eyes slowly widened, and her mouth gaped open just the slightest bit. 

“I’m alive,” Hana whispered. Her smile would once have been accompanied by glowing skin and sparking whiskers, but now her body language was entirely mortal. 

Fareeha stared at her in disbelief. “…No way.” 

“It’s true! I didn’t know how it happened, but it must have been that deal you made!”  

Fareeha looked to Satya. Satya could only shrug in response. 

“Damn. I didn’t think she meant Hana too. Holy crap, so you’re – you’re just alive again, after sixty years of being dead?” 

Hana threw her arms around Fareeha. “Whoa!” Fareeha hugged her back. “Well I didn’t expect this at all, but I’m glad to have helped!” After a few moments, however, she drew away. “You’re okay with basically doing community service for an unspecified amount of time after we die?” 

“I don’t mind,” Hana said. “It’s more time to hang out here! And once we’re done we can all move on together.” 

“I do not mind, either,” Satya replied. “In fact, I have been feeling more than a little guilty over what we did to that other Reaper.” 

“I still can’t believe I’m alive.” Hana studied her own hands. “I don’t have to worry about anyone trying to force me to the afterlife now. I’m free! I’m alive, I’m free, I’m–”  

Her stomach growled with ferocity. 

“…I’m  _starving._ ” She peered out into the hallway. “Wonder what they’ve got to eat in this place?” 

“Go harass the nurses for some crackers or something. Once they take all these wires out of me I can go with you to the cafeteria. Satya can come too, if she’s up to it.” 

“Of course.” 

“Okay, in the meantime I guess I’ll bug them for stuff up here.” Hana turned and made a beeline for the wall. Before Satya or Fareeha could warn her she slammed smack into it, banging her face off the chipped white wall paint. 

“Gotta use doorways now,” Fareeha said. 

“Yeah, yeah, I realized as I was already doing it.” Hana muttered something under her breath as she winced and rubbed her nose. She made a point after that of stepping in and out of the doorway several times to ensure she was going to clear it, then she disappeared out into the hallway. 

Once they were alone Satya and Fareeha simply gazed across the room at each other for a long while. 

“I was watching you, you know,” Satya eventually said. “I was dead for at least a few minutes on that accident scene. During that time I was in the ambulance with you, watching the paramedics try to treat you.” 

Fareeha bit her lip. “I didn’t want to make the choice for you, but when that woman told me you were dead I just couldn’t deal with it.” 

“I understand. I would surely feel the same.” 

With a sigh, Fareeha turned and looked out toward the hallway. “So both of our vehicles are wrecked.” 

“Hana told the nurses she is our daughter.” 

“What? Why?” 

“I am not sure. Perhaps she thought it would be easier to explain than telling them we simply hang around with unrelated nineteen-year-olds.” 

Fareeha mulled it over. “We don’t have any papers or identification for her. I feel like that’s gonna be a problem at some point.” 

Hana returned with a tiny cup of ice cream and a miniature plastic spoon. She dug eagerly into it, retrieving a big scoop of pink ice cream. The moment it was in her mouth she made a squealing sound of delight. She had just barely swallowed it when she opened her mouth back up to say “Ahh, I forgot how good food tastes!” 

After that she sat in the chair by the window, devouring the dessert. 

“So,” Fareeha said after a while, “you’re our daughter, huh?” 

Hana shrugged, the question failing to interrupt her ravenous devouring of the ice cream. 

“You do realize that physically I am only nine years older than you?” Satya added in. 

“Well obviously you didn’t have me yourself,” Hana said through her mouthful. She swallowed, smacked her lips, and added, “You informally adopted me a few years ago, when I was still underage. Before that I was an orphan. Also I was born to a homeless lady who never registered me with anyone, so I don’t have any paperwork or anything.” 

Satya and Fareeha exchanged a glance. “You’ve really thought this through,” Fareeha said. 

“Yeah! You think it sounds believable?” 

“Honestly? Not at all.” Fareeha shook her head. “But it’s more believable than telling them you’re a seventy-eight-year-old ghost recently brought back to life via some shady deal with a lady claiming to be an angel who came to me in a dream.” 

Hana cackled. “That makes you sound insane.” 

“Yeah. So I guess you’re an adopted dumpster baby now.” 

“Do you think they’ll give me more ice cream if I ask?” Hana was already tossing the first cup into the nearby trash can.  

“Why don’t you try something a bit more substantial?” Satya asked. “You have a body to nourish and support now.” 

Hana rolled her eyes. Not a minute later she was using the call button on Fareeha’s bed to place an order for more strawberry ice cream cups. 

* * *

 

They were ready to go home shortly after waking up. Unfortunately the hospital’s discharging process took  _hours_ , so it was after midnight when they were finally all cleared to leave.  

With no vehicles left intact, and no buses running that late (not that there was much in the way of public transit out in the middle of nowhere where their house was, anyway), they were momentarily unsure how they would get home. Then suddenly an unfamiliar car pulled up, with an unfamiliar woman in the driver’s seat.  

“Hey,” she called as the windows rolled down, “get in. I’ll get us home.” 

“Um, thanks, but we’re all set.” Fareeha waved the stranger off.  

The woman leaned an arm out the window. It wasn’t until she was revealed in the light of the parking lot that Satya realized her eyes had an odd, blank look to them. 

“Idiots,” she muttered. “It’s Sombra.” 

In all the chaos from earlier Satya had very nearly forgotten about the other ghost. “I am  _not_  driving with you again. Get out of that poor woman!” 

“Okay, you want to drive?” Sombra shifted over to the passenger seat. “We’ll leave her somewhere with her car when we’re done. She’ll be fine.” 

A strange coldness clutched at Satya’s heart. She inhaled sharply, and her hand drifted to her chest, where a wisp of icy purple smoke was flowing out of the pores of her skin. 

She felt a sudden, and immense, sense of guilt. It was not her own. 

“Very well,” she said, surprising both Hana and Fareeha. “But I do not want you driving. And I am…not sure I can so soon after what happened.” 

“I’ll drive.” Fareeha went around to the driver’s side and pulled the door open. “You sit in the back." She all but yanked Sombra out of the driver’s seat. 

Satya slipped into the passenger seat of the unfamiliar vehicle. It smelled like the life of a stranger. The seatbelt was faintly sticky, perhaps from the hands of a child. Satya frowned as she was forced to take in the plethora of foreign scents and sensations. 

Fareeha was uncharacteristically cautious when driving. Satya could hardly blame her.  

As soon as they were out of the hospital lot Sombra started up again. “Wow Sombra, you’re the  _best,_ ” she said in a high-pitched voice. “Without you we’d be walking home!” 

“Without you we wouldn’t have had to sell our souls to stay alive.” Fareeha kept her eyes strictly on the road. 

Sombra didn’t seem to have a response for that. 

“So where are you gonna go now?” Hana asked her, her tone far from friendly. 

“Me? Oh, I’m thinking I’ll probably spend the next few days doing some research, then focus on Lumérico for a while. They’re just as bad as Vishkar, and–” 

“Cool. Where are you gonna do that?” 

“At your house, obviously?” 

“I don’t want you there. It’s  _m_ _y_ house, not yours.” 

“You can’t stop me. And besides, it’s not like I’m intruding on your haunting grounds anymore,  _fleshie_ _._ ” 

“Sh-shut up!” Hana crossed her arms. “And that’s my word! You don’t get to just use it!” 

“You had a lot of good ones. I read them all in Satya’s mind.  _Fleshies_ _, skin sacks,_ _meat_ _bags_ …I’m gonna use ‘em all.” 

“No!!” 

“So Hana,” Fareeha interrupted their bickering. Hana reluctantly backed down. 

“What?” 

“How do you like being alive?” 

Her eyes glinted. “Oh, I  _love_  it!” She leaned over into Sombra’s personal space. “It’s so great, breathing all this  _air,_  feeling all these  _sensations,_  I’m just adoring it!” 

“Just means you get to experience dying a second time,” Sombra said. 

“I’ll take it.” 

Fareeha’s eyes slid over to the mirror, where she mustered a small, tired smile. “So…happy early birthday?” 

Hana giggled. “Thanks. I think it’s gonna be my best one in a long time.” Her eyes widened as she cut herself off. “Oh my God, I just realized I’m finally gonna turn 20! I won’t be a teenager anymore!” 

“Time to start paying taxes.” 

“No way! Your mom doesn’t pay taxes, why should I?” 

“That’s because Mother is a criminal. Don’t emulate her behavior.” 

Satya sat and quietly took in the banter between them, with Sombra occasionally joining in as well.  _Everything will be different now._  From the mundane fact that they would need new vehicles to the fact that they were now in the charge of a living, breathing teenage girl, as well as a ghost who seemed ready to make herself at home with them, their lives would never be the same after this night. 

 _I have always strived for order and harmony in my life. It would seem the universe has other plans for me._  

Perhaps a truly harmonious life was surviving in, and making beauty of, a world of constant chaos.  

 

* * *

 

* * *

 

**_Epilogue_   **

“This sounds good. Ooh, these too. Oh and these!” 

Three more boxes of snacks landed in the already-stuffed shopping cart. Fareeha exhaled. “This is going to be my whole paycheck.” She plucked one of the items out of the cart. “Chocolate-covered dried chili peppers?” 

“Sounds good!” 

“You know you’re gonna get home, eat all this garbage, then get sick and puke it all up again. Just like last week.” 

“I haven’t thrown up in years,” Hana said. “It was kind of invigorating!” 

Fareeha rolled her eyes as she tossed the package back into the cart. “I at least better get to try all this weird crap I’m paying for.” 

“Sure!” Hana was already plucking something else off the grocery store shelf. “We’ll have a taste testing!” 

* * *

 

“Are you putting chocolate sauce on  _chicken fingers_?” Sombra picked one up, holding it away from herself as if it were forensic evidence at a crime scene. 

“Okay, judge all you want.” Fareeha licked a bit of chocolate sauce off her thumb. “It’s actually weirdly good.” 

Hana nodded, her mouth full of the ungodly concoction. 

“You are brushing your teeth at least seven times if you want any kisses tonight,” Satya said. 

“Fair enough.” 

The only sound other than she and Hana slurping down disgusting junk food combos was the  _clack, clack, clack_  of Sombra’s worn-out old keyboard as she tapped away on it. They didn’t have any sort of computer desk for her, so the far end of the dining room table had become her work station. Fareeha hardly minded giving up that end of the table since it had a weak leg (apparently something had happened to it while Hana’s multiverse clones had come for a ‘visit’) and rattled when you sat down at it.  

Nobody was exceptionally happy about her staying in the house – not even Sombra herself. But she didn’t exactly have anywhere else to go, and she was actually proving to be useful in some important ways. 

“I think these are basically finished,” Sombra spoke up after a long period of silence. “They look legit enough to me.” 

“Oh yeah? Let me see.” Fareeha hopped up and leaned in next to her, still chewing. Sombra’s face contorted in disgust, but she avoided giving any other sort of reaction to it. “Looks super official, at least.” 

“Well yeah, I copied a template. You got a printer?” 

A few minutes later all four of them were gathered around a splaying of papers on the table. “So you just sign here,” Sombra pointed to a line, “and Satya signs here, and I’m gonna fudge a judge’s signature. Then you just fill in all the junk at the bottom and I guess you should be good to go.” Sombra turned to eye Satya and Fareeha. “I gotta ask, though”–she gestured to Hana–“why do you want to adopt this little pain in the ass anyway?” 

“It’s just easier. That way if she gets sick or anything we’ll have visitation rights and all that.” 

Satya folded her arms and smirked at her. “Ah yes. We are only doing this for the most practical of reasons, of course.” 

“Of course.” 

Hana was grinning her usual devious, yet oddly endearing grin. “I still can’t believe I haunted you, broke all your stuff and called you dumb, and you want to  _adopt_  me.” 

“Yeah, I’ve been told I have issues with self-respect,” Fareeha replied in a deadpan tone. 

“Oh, my love, you are just a beautiful, caring soul.” Satya stood up on her tip-toes to kiss Fareeha’s cheek. “Anyone who comes to know you can see that.” 

Sombra and Hana both gagged. Then they gagged at each other for doing the same thing. 

“So we just have to fill all this stuff out?” Fareeha picked up one of the papers. “And then it’s done?” 

“I mean, it’s as done as a set of bootlegged adult adoption papers can be, I guess.” 

“Well we don’t exactly have the choice to go legit, considering Hana doesn’t have any legal documents. This is as good as we’re gonna get.” 

“All right then.” Sombra handed her a pen. “Go crazy.”  

Satya and Fareeha pulled up two chairs and began filling out the sections for information about the two of them and information about Hana. Hana watched them for a while, intermittently yawning and stretching her arms out across the surface of the table. After a while she sat up and said, “I’m gonna go take a shower.” 

Fareeha looked up from their paperwork. “Again?” 

“Yeah, why not?” 

“You…just showered this morning.” 

“She’s jacking off in there,” Sombra said. 

“What??” Hana’s cheeks flushed bright red. “Were – were you watching me??” 

Sombra’s eyes lit up. “Wait, were you really?? Oh my God, I was just screwing with you!” 

Hana stared straight ahead, avoiding any of their stares. “…Oh.” 

Fareeha massaged her temples as Satya made a noise of disdain beside her. “Just wash off the shower head when you’re done,” she said, unable to summon a reaction any stronger than that. 

“Okay,” Hana squeaked as she scampered off. 

Fareeha continued to stare down at the paperwork, though she was hardly absorbing what it said. “I suppose…that is normal…” Satya said, her neutral tone sounding more than a bit forced. 

“I mean, she hasn’t had a body in sixty years, so, yeah. I guess it's...understandable.” 

Sombra was glancing back and forth between them with a look of pure amusement on her face. “Are you guys sure you’re ready to raise a 20-year-old girl?” 

Fareeha shook her head. “Not at all.” 

That earned a hearty laugh out of Sombra. "I'm actually glad I stuck around now. This is going to be  _hilarious_ _._ "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to all my readers for checking out my fic! I had a ton of fun writing it! Hope you'll join me for the next one :~)


	10. Holiday Special

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sombra wants to celebrate Christmas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to add one more chapter for the holidays :') Enjoy!

It was funny how easily people could adapt to even the strangest of situations. Within a few short months the bizarre living arrangement of two lesbians, an eighty-year-old teenage ghost turned mortal, and the spirit of a thirty-year-old Mexican hacker became a weird sort of family unit. Every day Fareeha and Satya commuted to work and went about their normal routines, their coworkers none the wiser about their home life. The only thing outsiders knew was that the couple was still recovering from a serious car accident that thankfully had only cost them their vehicles.

Nowadays they were both driving cheap old junkboxes, though Fareeha didn’t really mind. And the junky old truck she picked up was a king cab, so she could actually fit all four of her oddball family members in it.

Not today, though.

_“Then it all crashes down,_

_And you break your crown,_

_And you point your finger_

_But there’s no one around!_

_Just want one thing,_

_Just to play the king,_

_But the castle’s crumbled_

_And you’re left with just a name–”_

“Where’s your crown, King Nothing?” Hana finished the line with a smirk on her face.

Fareeha tapped the fingers on the steering wheel. “Is that you trying to tell me you’re sick of this song?”

“No.” She batted her lashes. “I just wanted to sing along with your oldie dad music.”

Fareeha reached over and changed the song. Hana sighed with relief – but it was short-lived as the familiar opening riff of “TNT” by AC/DC started up. At that she leaned back into the headrest and frowned up at the ceiling.

“Okay, okay.” Fareeha eventually paused the song. “What do _you_ want to listen to?”

Hana grabbed Fareeha’s phone and started typing. Moments later the truck was filled with the voices of some Korean boy band. Fareeha exhaled, but didn’t protest.

“ _Teojil geot gatdeon nae simjangeul joyonghi umkyeojwin goyoham_

_I sumi meojeodo joheul mankeum pyeonghwarowo jigeum”_

Hana sang along quietly, bobbing her head.

Fareeha glanced over at her for a brief moment, then returned her eyes to the road. “You should teach us some Korean sometime.”

Hana’s disposition brightened. “Yeah? You’d want to learn?”

“You gotta at least teach me some swear words.”

“Only if you teach me some swears in Arabic.”

“Okay, never mind. I know the first thing you’ll do is call Mom up and tell her Fareeha taught you all these cool new obscenities.”

Hana snickered, not bothering to deny it.

They pulled into the driveway beside Satya’s “new” car. Immediately Fareeha noticed it was parked haphazardly, something Satya _never_ did. “Oh great,” she mumbled, fully aware of the implications the scene presented.

The moment they stepped inside the house, sure enough, they found Satya sitting at the kitchen table, making a blatant attempt to ignore the grinning woman seated across from her.

“What did you do?” Fareeha was on Sombra without so much as a greeting.

With wide eyes Sombra touched a hand to her chest. “ _Me?_ ”

“Yeah, _you._ I saw the car.”

“I was just excited somebody was coming home.”

“She appeared right in front of the car while I was pulling in.” Satya kept her eyes on the table’s surface.

“Don’t do that to her! Haven’t we had enough car accidents thanks to you?”

Sombra shrugged, clearly not sorry. “I was excited!”

Her stare lingered on Fareeha, waiting for her to inquire further. Neither she, nor anyone else, did.

“…I saw the calendar today,” she continued once she realized no one was going to ask. “It’s December first!”

Fareeha raised an eyebrow. “Okay?”

“So when are we gonna get the Christmas decorations up already??”

They all stared at her.

“None of us celebrate Christmas,” Satya finally said.

Sombra’s eyes bulged. “What?? Why not??”

“I am Hindu, Fareeha is Muslim, and Hana is Buddhist. Christmas does not really hold any meaning to any of us.”

Sombra turned to Hana. “You’re _Buddhist?_ ”

Hana nodded. “My parents were more into it than I am, but–”

“Isn’t Buddhism all about, like, giving up your worldly possessions and ascending to some higher plane of existence?” She threw her hands out in Hana’s direction. “You’re the _antithesis_ of that!”

“Yeah…”  Hana averted her eyes. “I’m not very good at it.”

“So what the hell? My first Christmas in twenty years that I haven’t been trapped in a PC motherboard, and we’re just not gonna do anything for it?”

“You wanted no part when we celebrated Diwali a few weeks ago.” Satya crossed her arms, clearly not amused by the ghost woman’s antics.

“I didn’t know that was your Christmas! I was holding out!”

“Why are you so into Christmas, anyway?” Fareeha rested her chin on her palm, as unamused as Satya. Unlike with Hana, spending more time with Sombra had not endeared her to them. Rather it was the opposite – they were both sick to death of her constant nonsense.

Sombra opened her mouth, then closed it again. Huffing, she angled herself away from them. “Forget it. It doesn’t matter.”

“Some of the only memories she has of her parents are of the three of them celebrating Christmas together back in Mexico.”

Fareeha looked to Satya, who was staring down at her own heart. Familiar purple smoke seeped from her chest. _Right. Sombra possessed her, so when she’s feeling strong emotions Satya can read them._ Most of the time Sombra kept her feelings to herself, so it wasn’t often that Satya could pick up on them.

Sombra scowled. “Way to just lay my shit out like that.”

Fareeha glanced around the table. Hana was watching her. Though they no longer shared a spiritual connection, Fareeha could still get a pretty good read of the girl most of the time. Likewise, Hana always seemed to know what was on Fareeha’s mind as well.

Satya was looking away from all of them, but that was pretty common for her. She didn’t look quite as annoyed anymore, but rather pensive.

“Okay,” Fareeha said at last. “We don’t usually do Christmas, but since we _were_ the ones who brought you into our house…” She nudged Satya. “What do you think?”

“I’d be up for doing Christmas,” Hana said. “It’s not like it’s against any rules or whatever. And it could be fun.”

Satya lifted her chin, meeting Fareeha’s gaze. “…I suppose there would not be any harm in it.”

“Woohoo!” Sombra punched the air. “Okay, so let’s get this all planned out. My family’s always had a crappy fake tree, so this year I want a real one.”

“Good luck finding a place that sells live Christmas trees in rural India,” Fareeha murmured.

Sombra paused. “…We’re in India?” She started looking around. “Was that ever explicitly stated?”

“It was heavily implied.”

“Wait, why the hell did Hana move all the way to India when she bought this house? And for that matter how did one of my computers end up here all the way from Mexico?”

“Stop questioning things!” Hana shook her head vigorously. “This is why we got dropped for that stupid vampire story!”

Sombra fell silent.

“So what else does a Christmas celebration entail?” Satya asked.

“Oh, we gotta make a gingerbread house. But keep it away from Kirby over here. She’ll inhale the whole thing.”

Hana crossed her arms. “I don’t eat _that_ much.”

“The grocery bill doubled after you came back to life. I’ve seen it. And even if I hadn’t…” She cast a purposeful look up and down in Hana’s direction.

“Psh. I don’t care what I look like. I’m just happy to be _alive._ ”

“As she should be.” Satya nodded in Hana’s direction.

“Yeah, leave her alone, Sombra.”

Sombra blew out a long breath. “Forgot I can’t say anything in front of the mama bears.”

“That’s right. Only _we_ get to insult Hana.” Fareeha pointed menacingly at her. “Why are you eating all our groceries?!”

“I’m sorry!” Hana quivered her lip in a mockery of being close to tears. “I have to live on junk food because your cooking is inedible!”

Not a moment later Fareeha had her squealing in a headlock. Satya watched their antics with a sigh and a smirk.

Sombra cleared her throat. “So _anyway,_ about my gingerbread house – oh! We also gotta get stockings. Hang ‘em by the mantle. And, uh…I don’t know. I’ll have to research some other stuff to do.”

Fareeha released Hana. Before she could get far enough away, however, Hana licked two fingers and smeared her spit all in Fareeha’s face. “Eugh! Okay, I had that coming.”

“Oh,” Sombra spoke up again, “does this place get snow?”

Satya shook her head.

“Damn it. We never got snow at home either.” She pouted for a moment – then brightened. “We should get some kind of snow machine! Don’t they sell snow makers?”

“We’re not wasting our money on a snow machine,” Fareeha shut her down immediately.

“Then maybe we could go somewhere that has snow?”

“Why not just go somewhere by yourself?” Hana muttered.

“Oh yeah. I could.”

“So why don’t you?”

Sombra fidgeted in her seat. “…I mean, I wouldn’t even know where to go, though. And I – I don’t know anyone…anywhere.”

They all studied her.

“You do not want to go alone,” Satya said.

Sombra shrugged.

“Okay no, we are _not_ getting suckered into this,” Fareeha said. “This is what happened with Hana, and now she’s our extrajudicially adopted dependent.”

“Why don’t you just open a portal and–” Hana cut herself off. But it was too late.

“Oh yeah, I forgot I can open portals!” Sombra’s eyes began to glow, matching the rest of her radiant, translucent body. “I should try that!”

“ _No._ ” Satya slammed a palm down on the table. “I am _not_ contending with that again.”

“I wouldn’t mind seeing the other Hanas one more time, though…” Hana chimed in.

“Absolutely not.”

“…Yeah, you’re right,” Hana conceded. “And I wouldn’t trust Sombra with that power anyway.”

“It’s not like you can stop me, pipsqueak. I can do whatever I want.”

“No you can’t.”

“What are you gonna do? Exile me to another dimension?” She chuckled smugly. “Oh wait. You gave all those powers up so you could be _~mortal~_ again.”

“Sombra, seriously, you don’t want to start messing with that sort of thing,” Fareeha said. “Last time Hana opened a bunch of portals the house almost got taken over by some sci-fi Satya clone bent on total home renovation.”

“Holy shit. That sounds awesome.”

“It was assuredly _not,_ ” Satya spat. “And she did not even mention the six Hanas running around.”

“Oh God, okay, never mind.”

“You know, Sombra,” Hana said, “you could get the Christmas experience right here in other ways. We could shut you in the fridge.”

“And I could possess your stupid meat sack and throw us both into traffic.”

“Are you forgetting that as soon as any of us dies we’re gonna become soul reapers? We’ll have all sorts of power over no-name poltergeists like you.”

“Pfft.” Sombra rolled her eyes, but had no real retort.

“So if we’re gonna celebrate Christmas,” Hana continued, “can I pick out some stuff I want?”

Fareeha sighed. “You really are the worst Buddhist ever. I can hear my credit card crying from my wallet.”

“Oh, we should go check out that electronics store in town.” Sombra elbowed Hana. “Window shop, y’know?”

“Yeah, okay!” Their spat apparently forgotten, Hana and Sombra both hopped up from the table and headed for the door. “Can I take your truck?” Hana called out as she was putting her shoes on.

Fareeha blew out a long, slow breath. “My insurance is already through the roof.”

“I’ll be careful!”

She massaged her temples. “Fine. Go, before I come to my senses.”

“Thanks!” Hana grabbed the keys. She and Sombra were out the door mere seconds later.

“Was that a good idea?” Satya murmured.

Fareeha slumped forward and bumped her forehead against the surface of the table. “Well, in the worst case I can always fake my own death for insurance money.”

“True. I will have to practice my mourning act.”

* * *

 

Hana was still adjusting to driving 2070s vehicles – they didn’t even have tires anymore – but she was doing surprisingly well with it. All it had taken was a little coaching from Fareeha and she’d been ready to hit the road.

It had become a weird sort of game between her and Sombra to absolutely despise one another in the presence of Satya and Fareeha, then be cool with each other when they were alone. It was hard to truly hate the only person you lived with who could fully understand at least most of what you had been through.

That said, they definitely still had their moments.

“God, really?” Hana rested her chin on the steering wheel during a red light. “More dubstep?”

“Dubstep?!?” Sombra pulled her hand out of the radio. “This isn’t dubstep! …It’s _hardstyle._ ”

“Same thing.”

“People have been killed for saying less than that.”

“People have been killed for a lot of stupid reasons.”

“Now that is _definitely_ true.”

The tiny electronics store at the far end of town was one of Hana’s favorite destinations in the otherwise-rural area. Sure, she could just order things online – and she absolutely did – but there was nothing quite like ogling the latest gaming tech in person.

“Hey,” she said as they climbed down out of the truck, “feet.”

“Right.” The smoke trail beneath Sombra split and manifested into two legs.

“And no possessing the electronics this time.”

“Okay, _that’s_ asking too much of me.”

Hana’s arm tingled and then went cold. It lifted on its own and started slapping Hana in the head. Sombra’s arm was feeding into it, as if inside a puppet.

Hana yanked back from her. “This is why nobody likes you.”

“Ouch. Low blow.”

“Just stating a fact.”

The first item on display inside the store was a giant holovid showing a bunch of highly-detailed nature scenes. “Ooh.” Hana gazed up at it. The scene changed to depict a wintery mountain, windblown but oddly peaceful, with the sun glittering across its undisturbed snowfall. “Hey Sombra, look! There’s your snow.”

Sombra put down the headset she was looking at. “Aww. I really wish I could see snow in person. Especially for Christmas.”

“You can reach your hand in the holovid,” Hana said with a snicker. Her laughter waned, however, when Sombra got a look of intrigue on her face.

“What do you think is in there, anyway?”

“In a holovid? Um, wires? Electricity? Whatever else–”

“I don’t mean literally, smart one. I mean, screens are a gateway to something else, kinda. It’s always screens or mirrors that ghosts show up on in movies and stuff. I wonder…”

“Don’t wonder.”

“Too late.” Sombra pushed her hand into the holovid’s screen. Hana gasped, then cast a quick look around. Thankfully nobody seemed to be in the immediate area – at least for the moment. “Whoa.” She reached in a little farther. “It’s, like, cold. It feels like a mountain.”

“No way. You’re full of it.”

Sombra pulled her hand back out and examined it. “It was cold. Seriously. Like mountain air.”

“Well then why don’t you just jump in there and go have your mountain snow adventure?”

Needing no further encouragement, Sombra climbed inside the holovid. Immediately its screen began bleating static, and the entire device took on a sickly purple hue.

A moment later Sombra appeared on the screen.

“What are you doing?” Hana whispered. “Either use it as a portal or don’t.”

“Hey, this is cool. I’m on TV!” A stack of papers manifested in her hands, and a desk in front of her. She sat up straight and put on an incredibly serious face. “This is Sombra bringing you breaking news. Former professional gamer Hana Song found hiding out in India in the wake of multiple allegations of cheating at Starcraft.”

“I never cheated at Starcraft!”

“Here’s what Song had to say to reporters–”

The screen changed to depict Hana just moments before. “I…cheated at Starcraft!”

Sombra shook her head. “Truly a disappointing day for all gamers.”

“I _hate_ you.”

The scene changed back to the snowy mountaintop from before. This time Sombra was standing in the middle of it, her arms out excitedly.

“There. You got your snow.”

“Eh, this doesn’t feel like anything. It’s like being in front of a green screen.”

“Well you need to go _all_ the way in, then.”

“But I…” Sombra looked at her with overdramatically rounded eyes. “…I don’t want to go alone.”

“Well _I_ can’t go through portals anymore. At least I don’t think I can?”

Suddenly an arm shot out from the holovid and latched on to her. Sombra smushed her up against the holovid screen. “Ow! I’m not gonna get through it!”

The holovid began to hum with energy. Hana’s arm, and then slowly her entire body, began to tingle. Sombra gave her another pull. This time her arm actually passed into what was no longer a screen, but now an open gateway. With a few good tugs she ended up yanked right into the massive holovid. She barely had time to screech before she disappeared into the electronic void with Sombra.

* * *

 

“It has been so long.”

“I know.”

Satya’s expression was a clear indicator of the meaning behind her words. She brushed Fareeha’s hand with her own as she walked past, pausing after a few steps. Waiting for Fareeha to follow.

Of course, Fareeha did.

Satya sashayed down the hall toward their bedroom. Fareeha strolled along behind her, grinning. “You think we’ll have time?”

“We will make time.” Satya pulled her phone out of her pocket. “If not, we will be forced to wait at least another week.” She tapped a nail on the screen, which changed to display her calendar app. The entire next week had a red line drawn through it.

“Ugh. It always sneaks up on me.”

“I know. That is why I inform you every month.”

“Is that also why you’re so horny all of a sudden?”

Satya smiled behind a hand.

They wasted no time climbing into bed together. Satya knelt over Fareeha, her eyes meandering over her lover’s body. Fareeha felt her cheeks flush. Even after all these years, sometimes she still couldn’t believe the most beautiful woman in the world found her just as appealing.

“Remove your shirt,” Satya commanded. Her spine was straight and tall, her expression its usual enticingly dark.

Fareeha chuckled, but complied. She dropped it to the floor beside the bed and then held her hands out in a ‘ta-da’ pose.

“Good.” Satya reached out and trailed her fingers down Fareeha’s bare stomach. “May I play with you a bit first?”

“You know you can do whatever you want to me.”

Satya sat down, settling her weight entirely on Fareeha’s pelvis. Fareeha exhaled, then ran her fingers down the sides of Satya’s thighs.

“Now take your bra off, my dear.”

Fareeha unhooked her bra and added it to the pile with her shirt. Satya nodded approvingly. Her organic hand reached down and cupped one of Fareeha’s breasts.

“What are you gonna do?” Fareeha tried to stifle some of her geeky excitement. She most certainly failed.

“Hmm…” Satya leaned down and kissed Fareeha’s lips lightly. “I would say the same as always…anything I wish.”

Fareeha’s sly smile only widened. “Well you know _I_ definitely won’t be opposed–”

_CRASH!_

Satya’s head snapped up. Fareeha slipped out from under her and quickly threw her shirt back on. As quietly as possible she then snuck over to the closet and retrieved the aluminum baseball bat they kept there just in case.

They both approached the bedroom door, and listened.

A series of smaller crashes indicated things were falling and most likely breaking. It sounded to be coming from the kitchen. _Fuck. Are we being robbed?_

Fareeha eased the door open just the slightest bit. They strained to listen, and as they did Fareeha began to hear something. A voice.

 _“Who has their damned chimney right over their stove? …Can’t believe this is what I’ve been reduced to…_ ” A rather deep, but unmistakably female voice muttered from the kitchen. She had an unusual accent that Fareeha could not pin down. “ _Everything I’ve worked for…no respect…”_

Her muttering continued at an inaudible level.

Fareeha and Satya exchanged a glance. Before they could even begin to formulate a plan, however, the woman in the kitchen began to speak at a full volume.

“All right, I know there are mortals here – I can _smell_ you.”

Fareeha’s heart sank. _Of **course** it’s something supernatural._ By this point she would almost prefer a common robbery.

“You can come out now, or you can test my patience and make me find you.”

They heard a _slam_ as a door was thrown open, banging off the walls they had just recently repainted.

“What do we do?” Fareeha whispered.

Satya had her phone in one hand, and Fareeha realized she was typing on it. She held the screen up to reveal a text to Hana. _Come home now. Emergency._

Fareeha nodded. _Yeah, that’s a good idea. She’ll at least know what to do…I hope._

Suddenly the bedroom door blasted open, knocking them both to the floor. Fareeha was back up in an instant, her bat at the ready despite her confidence that this creature would be absolutely unaffected by it.

Through the doorway stepped a woman clearly not of this world. Her spiny, angular body towered over even Fareeha. Her wild orange hair matched the intensity of her eyes, which were mismatched – one blue, one red. She wore a black dress shirt with a purple satin tie and white chinos that oddly wouldn’t have looked out of place in an ordinary human office. Her clothes did not cover her hands, however, and they were easily the most monstrous thing about her. Both hands bore lengthy, neon purple claws, but her right hand had an unnatural purple hue to it, like flesh long gone rotten, and thick blue veins bulged beneath the decayed flesh, so clearly defined they looked almost more like thick, ropey wires.

“Ah,” she said simply, “there you are.”

“What do you want?” Fareeha puffed herself up as much as she could, but it was of no use. This woman was a full head and shoulders taller than her. She looked like a bringer of some sort of apocalypse. Like the last thing you would see before you perished horrifically.

To their surprise, the woman did not attack them or anything – though she did eye the bat in Fareeha’s shaking hands with a look of slight amusement. Instead she pulled a folded-up piece of paper and a pair of reading glasses from the breast pocket of her shirt. “I’m looking for an ‘Olivia Colomar’.”

That gave them pause. “’Olivia Colomar’?” Fareeha looked to Satya, who shook her head. “I’ve never met an Olivia Colomar.”

The woman’s neutral expression quickly soured into a scowl. “You think I _like_ doing this, mortal? Chasing wayward souls around? This isn’t even supposed to be my job. I’m an _angel._ ”

The bat slipped out of Fareeha’s hands as she stared at the woman. “ _You’re_ an angel?”

“What’s that tone for? Am I not angelic enough for your consideration?”

“N-no, it’s not that.” Fareeha backpedaled, holding her hands out in front of her. “Just…I met an angel before. You don’t look anything like how she looked.”

“Christ, it’s almost as if people can look different from one another.” The woman turned her look of disgust on Satya. “Do _you_ have a functional IQ?”

“Do not talk down to her like that.” Satya glared up at the woman, apparently unintimidated. Fareeha’s heart drummed a little as she gazed sweetly upon her lover, momentarily forgetting their situation.

The woman exhaled. “Listen to me. I need this one spirit, and then I will be on my way. She’s next on my list, and I can’t move on to the next one – or any of my other angelic business – until I get her.”

She turned the paper to them. On it was what looked to be a printout from Google Maps of their house, with a circle drawn around it in red Sharpie. “It says this is the residence she’s haunting. This place has a high concentration of spiritual energy, so I know I’m right. Just turn her over so this can be as painless as possible.”

“Wait.” Fareeha cast another glance over at Satya, then back to the angel. “Could you be talking about…Sombra…?”

“I’m talking about the _ghost_ in your house. Surely you haven’t missed the fact that your house is haunted?”

“We do have a ghost here, but she goes by the name ‘Sombra’. It might be her?”

“Well, where is she?”

“Uh, she’s actually out right now. With our…daughter.”

The woman cocked an eyebrow. “Your family takes its resident poltergeist along for outings?”

“We’re a bit of an oddball family.”

“I can see that.”

“She did not answer my text,” Satya murmured. “She did not even read it.”

The woman folded her arms. “Well, I can’t leave until I have her.”

“Oh you can have her.” Fareeha pulled out her own phone. “Let me try calling Hana.”

Hana’s phone rang and rang. Hana never answered.

“Ugh.” Fareeha finally hung up. “I hope Sombra didn’t get her into some mess.”

The angel folded her arms, and began tapping one long, pointed shoe on their floor.

“Would you like a drink?” Satya eventually said. “Coffee? Tea?”

The angel seemed surprised by the offer. “I, er…sure. I’ve got nothing to do but wait anyway.”

Fareeha tilted her head at Satya. Satya gritted her teeth and gave a tiny shrug. _Okay, well I guess this is the best strategy to at least keep this lady placated…_

The woman loomed over them as Fareeha and Satya led her back to the kitchen.

* * *

 

“You are an _idiot._ ” Hana breathed on her fingers as she clenched them together. They felt as though they were going to fall right off, like icicles.

“I can fix it!” Sombra’s voice as all but lost over the howling winds whipping at them.

They’d been transported to some mountaintop somewhere. Hana had no idea where – it could be any mountain in any universe. She wasn’t acclimated to the cold anymore, and she certainly wasn’t dressed for it. It had only been a few minutes and already she could feel a sharp pain in both of her arms and a tightness in her chest from taking in such shockingly cold and thin air.

Thankfully it was daylight wherever they were, but the sky was flecked with purple and orange. Sunset would soon be upon them.

“You have to open another p-portal!” Hana curled up into herself. “I’m gonna freeze to death!”

“I’m working on it.” Sombra pawed at the air. “I don’t know how I did it the first time.”

“You just…I don’t know how to explain it.” Her lungs burned with every word she spoke. “There’s not enough…oxygen up here…”

“I said I’ll figure it out, okay? Calm yourself.”

Hana paced in small circles, rubbing her forearms in a futile attempt to generate heat. _At least I decided to wear jeans today instead of shorts…_

“Man, this place has a weird feel to it.” Sombra turned slowly in the air, looking all around. “Feels like…I don’t know.”

“It’s a mountain. They’re infamous for housing a lot of weird supernatural activity.” She pulled her arms inside her shirt. Its thin fabric did little to combat the lashing wind. “Sombra, please.”

“I know, I know.” She drifted away a few steps. Her ghostly fingers grasped at a layer of thin, powdery snow settled against a jagged rock. “I’ve never actually seen – or touched – snow before. It’s beautiful.”

“Sombra! I’m not joking around!” Hana huddled up against the rocks, easing the relentless wind on her face just slightly.

“Me neither, _chiquita_. This is really cool.” She lifted her hands, letting the fine, fresh snow slip between her fingers. As she brought her outstretched arms toward Hana, Hana noticed her ghostly fingers had taken on a bluish hue. Her own fingers were beginning to look that way as well, but that actually made sense – she was mortal.

“Sombra…?”

“What?” Sombra scooped up another fistful of snow. This time she brought it to her mouth, hesitated a moment, then stuck her tongue out and licked it. “Man, and it _tastes good_ too! I always thought people who lived in snowy places were crazy. But now I think I get the appeal!”

“Sombra! I am literally going to die if you don’t open a portal and g-get us out of here!”

“Yeah, yeah, gimme a minute! So selfish…”

The wind picked up around them. A flurry of snow kicked up, swirling perfectly around Sombra in spite of the random and chaotic wind. Hana curled up tighter, bracing herself. She was beginning to lose sensation in her face and hands.

The snow began to settle right onto Sombra’s incorporeal form. It sank into her skin, giving it all the same frostbitten blue appearance as her hands. It also clung to her wind-tossed hair, leaving it looking white.

“Sombra…” Hana’s lips could barely move to form the name. “This p-p-place…it’s…”

Sombra turned and fixed her stare on Hana. Her eyes, once a deep violet, were now glacial in color. “I feel kinda funny,” she said. Her maniacal grin implied she wasn’t too concerned about that.

“It’s this place…m-mountains have a lot of malicious energy…so many deaths…”

“Huh. You don’t look so good.”

Hana blinked her frosted eyelids, finding it difficult to reopen them. “You gotta…get us back…”

Her body was beginning to feel pleasantly warm inside. She knew from somewhere in her past that that was a bad sign when you were out in the cold. Regardless, it was a tempting siren song. She nestled into herself. Her eyes slipped closed for just a moment.

“H-hey.” Sombra reached over and shook Hana awake. “You can’t just pass out like a lump. Don’t you wanna explore this place?”

With great effort Hana lifted her head – her muscles felt frozen. “I…what?” She was starting to feel weirdly confused, like everything in her brain was as frosted over as her extremities.

Sombra frowned. “…What am I doing?” She looked down at herself. Rigid spikes of ice had formed up her arms and legs, shaped by the sharp wind. “This place is, like…messing with me…”

Hana unfurled herself just a bit. “I…I think I’m…seeing things.”

“What? What kind of things?”

Hana squinted. Off in the distance she swore she could make out the silhouette of a person. They appeared to be lounging in the middle of the snowstorm, like one would do on a beach. “Okay. I’m hallucinating, I think.”

“Shit, okay.” Sombra tossed her head, shaking some of the snow and ice off. “Let me just…” She grabbed Hana by the hand and pulled her to her feet. “Don’t stay on the ground like that. If you lay down here you might not get back up.”

With the last of her strength Hana lifted one arm and pointed in the direction of the person she was seeing. Sombra followed her point. “…Shit. You’re not hallucinating. Somebody’s fucking watching us.” She shot up into the air and waved her arms around. “Hey! Who’s there?”

Hana’s eyes drifted shut again. She was close to falling asleep on her feet when Sombra gave her another rough shake.

Upon re-opening her eyes, she realized the person had gotten up from their lounging and was approaching them.

* * *

 

“And I come home to find out she apparently summoned five copies of herself from multiple different dimensions. One of them busted our dining room table and stole half our food.”

Moira touched her spindly fingertips to her chest and gave a hearty laugh. “Sounds like you’ve had quite the interesting past few months.”

“Yeah, ‘interesting’.” Fareeha took a sip of her coffee. “I wouldn’t trade her, though. She’s a brat, but she’s our brat.”

“Angela did some amazing work with her. Bringing someone back from the dead a full sixty years later…she really is a miracle worker.”

“Yeah, it’s incredible. Has that ever been done before?”

“Knowing Angela? Probably.”

“You do not perform such actions?” Satya asked.

“Me? Oh goodness no.” Moira chuckled again. “I’m an angel of death.”

Silence fell over the three of them.

“…Oh,” Satya eventually said.

“I know, it sounds so unpleasant, doesn’t it? But it’s a job that must be done.”

“What do you do, exactly?” Fareeha asked.

“I decide when a mortal’s time is up. Although that’s a bit of an oversimplification – there’s a whole mess of red tape and regulations and general headaches. We’ve gotten a lot more bureaucratic over the past few centuries, and with that comes a massive bundle of inefficiencies. That’s what sometimes leads to those long, drawn-out deaths some humans endure.”

“Are you affiliated with the grim reaper?” Satya sipped at her tea. “Just…out of curiosity.”

“I used to be. Until he decided he’d rather hide out in some pocket dimension than do his job.”

“Oh.” Satya tapped her fingernails against the side of her cup. “Interesting.”

“Indeed. We have a couple of new hires lined up, but the board won’t let me just kill them already. Not for lack of me trying…”

“Wait,” Fareeha interjected. “Did you cause our car accident??”

“What?” The angel’s mismatched eyes flicked over them. Then a realization must have dawned upon her. “Wait a minute – _you’re_ the new hires?”

“Yeah. That other angel, Angela I guess, agreed to spare us in exchange for us basically doing community service after our lives are over.”

“I see.” Moira touched the tips of her fingers together and smiled cordially. “Well, that’s fortunate, since you seem tolerable enough. We’ll be working together quite a lot _._ ”

Fareeha swallowed. “Great.”

The sound of a phone dialing drew her attention back to Satya, who was frowning down at her phone. “Still no response from Hana,” she murmured. “I am growing a bit concerned.”

Moira leaned back in her chair, hands folded across the back of her neck. “I hope you lot aren’t just trying to stall me out. I’ve got an eternity to wait, you know.”

“It’s not like her to not answer us,” Fareeha said. “Maybe we should take a ride over there and see if something’s going on.”

“And what?” Moira’s eerily-long nails came down onto the surface of the table before her with a _clack._ “Am I supposed to just loiter about your house until you decide to return?”

Fareeha glanced over at Satya, then back to Moira. “I mean – you can come with us, I guess?”

“Oh, goody. I love nothing more than tooling around town with mortals.”

“Well okay, you can stay here, then. At least you’ll have your inflated sense of importance to keep you company.”

Moira gasped. “Are you sassing an angel of death _?_ ”

“Supernatural beings just don’t faze me like they used to.” Fareeha grabbed her sneakers out of the closet in the hall. “So either come with us or don’t. I don’t really care.”

The angel muttered to herself as she reluctantly followed Satya and Fareeha out to the car.

* * *

 

“Hm. It would seem even here I cannot find peace from mortals.”

A tall woman with lavender skin, clad in a tight white and teal bodysuit, looked them over with disinterest. Her hair was dark blue and pulled back into a ponytail, but the front of it was covered by a strange ivory visor.

“Who are you?” Sombra was running her hands up and down Hana’s arms in an attempt to warm her. It wasn’t helping much.

“I’m k-kinda…” Hana was shivering violently.

The woman looked her over. “Your mortal is dying.”

“I know! It’s because I’m stupid and can’t figure out how to get a portal open that takes us back home.”

“Is that so?” The woman nodded to herself. “So if I were to open a portal for you, it would get you off my mountain?”

“I guess?” Sombra’s shoulders drooped. “I just wanted some snow for Christmas.”

“Christmas? You are a spirit. Who cares about the holidays?”

Sombra frowned. “I do.”

“Well I don’t.”

Sombra gasped.

“Can somebody…just…” Hana could barely get her lips to move. They felt like they were being poked with dull, frozen needles.

“Yeah, I gotta get her back. We were picking out presents!”

The woman’s lips pursed, only slightly, but enough to be noticeable. “So why do _you_ get to have holiday celebrations with mortals? The rest of us don’t do that.”

“You could if you wanted to.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Well okay then.” Sombra began tugging at the air again, attempting to open a rift. “Maybe you can help me with–”

“But what if I _did_ want to?”

Sombra paused to turn back to the woman. “Huh?”

The woman shifted her weight. Her expression was still neutral, but barely. “I don’t have to help you,” she said.

Sombra peeled back a layer of the space around them, but it didn’t seem to lead to anything. “I mean, I guess you don’t? If you don’t want to help then maybe just leave, so I can concentrate on this?”

At that the woman’s eyebrows knit together. “What are your plans for celebrating Christmas?”

“Well first off it’s ‘getting Hana back to our dimension so I don’t get my ass reaped by her and her pissed-off moms.’” She tugged at the rift she’d created. Something was visible just beyond its membrane barrier, though it was blurry and impossible to identify. “Oh, I think I’m doing it!”

The woman watched with mild interest as Sombra struggled – and eventually failed – to maintain the portal.

“Can I come?” she suddenly asked.

Sombra hesitated. “Come…celebrate Christmas with us?”

The woman shrugged. “I’m bored.”

“Uh. Sure. Okay. But we have to get back there firs–”

With one strong pull the woman yanked open a massive void. Piles of snow rushed into it, like waterfalls into nothingness. Before Hana or Sombra could say anything the woman pushed them through the portal as well, sending them sprawling into the unknown.

* * *

 

Satya tried to maintain casual small talk with Fareeha on the drive, but it was more than a bit difficult with an angel of death crammed into their backseat, staring her down every time Satya glanced in the rearview mirror.

“Are all human vehicles so impractically small?” she muttered at one point.

“No. I simply prefer compact vehicles.”

“Wonderful.” Moira attempted to straighten her spine in indignance. In the process she smacked her head on the ceiling.

“I feel you.” Fareeha was leaned against the window. “Hey Saty, I bet you finally feel small.”

“I do!” Satya smirked. “I finally know what it’s like to feel dainty.”

“You two are certainly taking the company of an angel of death in stride.”

“Like I said,” Fareeha waved a dismissive hand, “absolutely nothing can faze us anym–”

“What on earth is that??” Satya hit the brake, sending Fareeha sliding forward in her seat.

Traffic was halted in front of them, but that was not the spectacle Satya was talking about. The cloudless blue sky looked to be somehow sliced open – and something was dripping from it.

“Oh my.” Moira folded her hands in her lap and chortled. “Something’s amiss.”

“Was this your doing?” Satya pulled the car to the side of the road. Dozens of people were already gathered around, staring up at the bizarre convulsion of nature.

“No. But it’s interesting.”

“Is that…snow?” Fareeha climbed out of the car. Moira appeared behind her in a puff of black smoke. “Can you act normal for a minute?” she added.

“Oh relax, mortal. No one can see me right now except for the two of you.”

“What – really?”

“Indeed. In fact you probably look a bit touched talking to yourself.”

Snow was piling up in the street. Satya eventually shut the car off and got out as well. “Do you think…this could be Sombra’s doing…?”

As if in response to her question, the portal in the sky suddenly belched out a pair of humans. One kicked up a puff of fresh snow as they landed. The other made no impact at all.

Fareeha raced over to them, with Satya close behind. Moira seemed more interested in the reactions of the humans around them. She was studying them one by one, murmuring to herself as she examined the unknowing humans.

“Hana!” Fareeha grabbed one of the humans up off the ground. Sure enough, it _was_ Hana – and she looked half-frozen to death. Her lips and fingers were tinged blue, and she was shaking. “Oh my gosh, are you okay??” Fareeha cradled her in her arms. “What happened?”

Sombra dug herself out of the snow. Her skin, Satya noticed, was blue all over, and her hair was white. She was hardly recognizable. “Ugh…”

Moments later some sort of grappling hook shot out of the vortex and latched on to the grill of Satya’s car. A purple woman in a borderline-obscene latex bodysuit swung out of the portal and landed on the hood of the car, her ridiculous boots denting the metal in.

Satya paled as the woman stood up tall and rested a massive ivory sniper rifle across her shoulders. “All right,” she said, “where is the party I was promised?”

At the sight of the weapon most of the mortals spectating the scene fled. Some brave fools, however, remained, most of them recording the scene with their phones.

Fareeha had Hana nestled tightly against her. Hana’s shivers were shaking the both of them. Satya looked to Sombra, who was hovering nearby them, trying to explain herself. She then looked to Moira, who was simply taking the whole scene in.

“I didn’t mean to! I was just trying to see some snow…” Sombra winced as Fareeha shot her a glare filled with enough venom to nearly kill her a second time.

“The humans all react to the same stimulus in such wildly different ways.” Moira ran her dead hand down the cheek of a man filming the scene from a safe distance away. “None of this will transfer to a recording device. Yet they risk their lives to try to document it – or rather, _some_ do…what causes this difference in reactions, I wonder?”

“She’ll be fine,” Sombra continued. “A little cold never killed anybody. Well except for all the people that freeze to death…I read one time that there are like two hundred perfectly-preserved bodies scattered around Mount Everest because the cold keeps them from decomposing–”

“Do you know how to be quiet?” Fareeha snapped. “For a few minutes, at least?”

Sombra stopped talking.

The click of heels behind Satya drew her attention. The purple sniper woman strolled to her side. She, too, was taller than Satya, and had a fearless, imposing air to her. She quite clearly was not mortal.

“I was told it was Christmas in your universe. I haven’t attended a party in ages. There had better be one.”

“I wonder how they’d react to something even further out of their realm of expectation.” Moira snapped her long, spindly fingers. Suddenly the cars around them growled to life and started driving themselves around. The mortals all started shouting, and they quickly scattered. Moira drifted after them, murmuring to herself with great interest.

“I think she forgot about you,” Satya mumbled.

“Huh?” Sombra did a loop around Satya. “Who is that lady?”

“She is here for an ‘Olivia Colomar’, apparently.”

Sombra froze. Her skin began to flood with a radiance Satya had never seen from her before. Smoke trailed from Satya’s chest, and she found herself gripped with sudden emotion.

“Olivia…” Sombra looked down at her hands. “Oh my God. That’s my name.”

“So it is you, then?”

Sombra’s flesh warmed to its normal brown, and her hair returned to its usual brunette with a splash of purple. “Olivia Colomar…” She shook her head, her eyes on the ground. “How could I have forgotten my own name for so long?”

“Ah, so _you’re_ Olivia?” Moira appeared in front of her. She tapped her fingers on her folded forearms. “Perfect.”

“Uh…” Sombra looked around her, to Satya. “So who is this?”

Fareeha joined them. She was carrying Hana in her arms. “She’s half frozen to death. Sombra what the hell did you do?”

“…Got her in the Christmas spirit?”

Hana grunted unintelligibly from the crook of Fareeha’s arm. She sounded far from spirited.

“Ms. Colomar.” Moira held a hand out to her. “It’s time for you to come with me.”

“What? Why?”

“I’m here to guide you to the afterlife.”

Sombra looked around in confusion. “Wait, what? Guys, you”–she chuckled nervously–“you’re messing with me, right? This is payback for me pointing out Hana’s chub?”

“That chub probably saved my life,” Hana managed to mumble.

“I’m afraid this is no joke, Ms. Colomar.” Moira waggled her vascular, blue-tinged fingers in a beckoning gesture. “I’m an angel of death. You’re next on my list to be relocated.”

“Where…where am I gonna go?” Sombra hovered between Satya and Fareeha. “We just decided to celebrate Christmas together. I don’t wanna go yet!”

“Really? These two said they’d be more than happy to give you up.”

“What??” Sombra turned to Satya. “So Hana gets a pass from you guys, but I get sold out??”

Satya tried to remain stoic even as Sombra’s emotions churned viciously inside her. “You really do not belong here–”

“ _You brought me here!_ You’re the ones who brought me into your house! Now you’re just gonna hand me off to this terrifying lady?!”

Fareeha wasn’t looking at her. Neither was Hana. Only Moira was studying her with great interest, her eyes tracking each of Sombra’s emotion-fueled movements and gestures.

Satya reached out and hesitantly touched Sombra’s shoulder. “You could celebrate Christmas with your real family.”

“Actually, since you’ve spent significant time on earth with mortals you’ll probably be assigned an advisory role to an angel or a reaper. That’s typically the protocol for poltergeists.”

“Wait, so I wouldn’t even get to see my real family again?”

“That doesn’t tend to be how things work in the next world, contrary to this world’s beliefs. You _may_ see them after you’ve fulfilled your contribution requirements, but by then they’ll have probably…” Noticing Satya and Fareeha’s stares, Moira trailed off. “I’m saying too much. This isn’t intended to be mortal knowledge.”

Sombra threw herself at Moira’s feet. “Oh come on, can I just have this _one_ last Christmas on earth? Pleeeeease?”

Moira’s mouth twisted with disgust. “No. Stop begging.”

Sombra knit her fingers together in a pleading gesture. “You can stay ‘til it’s over! You can…study mortals or something!”

“Um, what?” Fareeha shot her a glare. “It’s not your house, you can’t decide who can stay there!”

Moira sighed. “I hate this job. Stop whining and accept your fate. We all have to.”

“We don’t, though! Hana didn’t!”

“Hana isn’t under my jurisdiction. If she was she would have been collected sixty years ago.”

All of Sombra’s fear and upset was swirling inside Satya. _I had no idea she was so attached to us._ _I suppose we are all she’s had for many decades, just like Hana._

“What if we agree to let you study us?” Satya suggested. “Let Sombra stay for Christmas and in exchange you can observe how mortals and spirits interact in a household setting.”

That gave the angel pause. “Hmm. I so rarely get the opportunity to do fieldwork these days. …But the board would never approve it.”

“So? Who cares what ‘the board’ thinks?” Sombra’s emotional state began to change. “It’s not like they can kill you over it.”

Moira examined Sombra with an unreadable expression. “No,” she said quietly, “they couldn’t.”

“Soo…stay and help us plan our big Christmas bash!”

“And then you’ll come along? No questions asked?”

Sombra grinned. “Of course!”

“Good. I’d hate to have to top innocent mortals until you have no reason left to stay.”

Fareeha made a face. “Top us…?”

“Not like that, you degenerate. I mean _kill_ you.”

“Oh.”

“I won’t screw around,” Sombra replied. “I _promise._ ”

Moira narrowed her eyes. “I don’t believe you for a second. But you’ll come around.” She rested one ice-cold hand on Satya’s shoulder, sending a shiver through Satya’s body. “Now, about this party…”

* * *

 

“All right, now we need one large egg.”

Hana opened the fridge, grabbed the egg carton, and carefully plucked the best-looking egg from it. “One egg. Gotcha.”

“All right.” Ana turned to her with a glint in her eye. “Now toss it here.”

“Toss it?”

“What, you think I can’t catch it?”

Moments later they were scrambling to clean raw egg off the floor before Satya or Fareeha noticed.

A piercing whistle startled the both of them. “Hey, that’s a health violation!” Officer D.Va appeared in the doorway with her whistle in hand. “You have to clean that properly!”

“I was gonna!”

“Good. I don’t want to have to shut this whole cookie-making operation down.”

“Are you _really_ a police officer in your universe?” Sombra popped up out of the oven and floated over to the tiny officer.

“Of course I am.” She held out a glittering gold badge with her name engraved on it. “Enforcing the law is a lifelong passion of mine.”

“Eww.” Sombra sank into the kitchen counter and disappeared.

“Are the cookies ready yet?” Junker Hana slipped into the room once Officer D.Va had walked away. “I’m starving.”

“No,” Hana replied, “but you can help yourself to the gingerbread house!”

“NO MY GINGERBREAD HOUSE!” Sombra sprang out of the cupboards, but was too late to stop Junker Hana from breaking the roof off and gobbling it down. “NOOOOO!”

“Oh, stop it,” Ana chastised her. “It’s made to be eaten.”

While Hana and Ana were baking, Fareeha and Satya were setting the table. “There is no way everyone’s gonna fit here,” Fareeha murmured.

Suddenly an identical second table appeared beside the first.

“Oh.” She blinked a few times. “Uh, thanks.”

Symmetra gave her a cordial nod in return.

Satya began laying out the silverware on the new table. “So how have you two been?” she asked.

“Most wonderful.” Symmetra tucked herself into the side of her universe’s Fareeha, who was smiling down at her, visibly smitten. “My quality of life has so vastly improved since I found my Fareeha.”

“Never expected a lady who hunted me down in the desert to make such a good girlfriend.” Otherverse Fareeha chuckled a little. “Also never expected I’d be traveling interdimensionally for a holiday I don’t celebrate.”

“Yeah, life’s funny like that.” Fareeha did a mental count of all the table places they had so far. “So we need, what, fourteen places? But Sombra doesn’t eat, so she doesn’t need a plate…”

“Um, excuse me.”

Fareeha turned around. A Hana in a rainbow-colored hanbok was staring up at her.

“What’s up?” Fareeha asked.

The Hana shifted her weight, clearly uncomfortable. “That redheaded lady’s been staring at me and the other Hanas all night. It’s weirding me out.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that. There isn’t much I can do.”

“You can’t send her away?”

“Believe me, I would if I could.” Spending the last three and a half weeks with Moira had been like living in a horror movie. They’d wake up to find her hovering over them, taking notes and staring down at them. Upon realizing they had awoken she would shush them and tell them to “resume normal sleep behavior” as if she wasn’t there.

The Hana frowned. With a sigh she walked away.

Satya set down a set of utensils at one table place, then perked up at the sound of voices in the next room. Fareeha listened as well. It didn’t quite sound like an argument, but it was certainly a heated debate.

“ _Latrodectus is so cliché nowadays anyway. Besides, funnel webs have a much more potent venom.”_

_“Funnelwebmaker doesn’t exactly have the same ring to it, now does it? And if you are so concerned about being the most deadly than why are you B.Va? Why are you not TarantulaHawkVa?”_

_“Um, maybe because the tarantula hawk wasp isn’t the most deadly? Not even close. The Giant Asian Hornet is usually regarded as the most toxic hymenopteran. And who says I want to be the deadliest bee anyway? Maybe I like bees because they’re cute.”_

_“And maybe I like black widows because they are cute.”_

_“Well maybe you have terrible taste.”_

_“Well maybe you are an insolent little brat.”_

_“Maybe so.”_

“Uh, what’s going on in here?” Fareeha poked her head into the living room. Inside she found B.Va and Widowmaker lounging on the sofa. Both were holding near-empty glasses of wine, with a bottle on the coffee table that was almost entirely gone already. “You two having a drunken debate about insects?”

“This is fun for us,” B.Va snapped. Widowmaker nodded sharply.

“Uhh…okay then.” Fareeha took a step back into the dining room. “In that case let us know if you, uh, need anything.” With that she excused herself.

On her way into the kitchen to check on Hana and her mother, Fareeha nearly ran right into Moira. The angel grabbed her by the front of her shirt and pulled her close.

“Whoa! What’s–”

“You have to stop that Hana clone with the record player. She’s been playing ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’ for the last three and a half hours. I keep trying to approach the other Hanas to tell them, but they all run away from me before I can.”

Fareeha blinked. “Oh.”

“She’s upstairs, but it’s haunting me all through the house. Please, tell her to stop or I’m going to smash that record player right in front of her.”

“Fine, I will. Don’t smash anybody’s anything, okay?”

Cruiser Hana was up in normal Hana’s bedroom. Sure enough, as Fareeha got closer she could hear the song drifting through the door. The quality of the recording was scratchy, clearly from an old-fashioned record player.

“Hey,” Fareeha called through the door, “Hana?”

The music stopped. “Come on in!”

Fareeha opened the door to find Cruiser Hana’s belongings sprawled all across Hana’s bed. She was doing her makeup in Hana’s mirror. The offending record player was perched beside her on the nightstand.

“Hi,” Fareeha said.

“What’s buzzin’, cuzzin?”

“Oh, nothing. You, uh, really like that song, huh?”

“It’s the only hip Christmas song out there. And also I figured out it drives that angel lady bonkers.” She snickered.

“Wait, so you’re doing it intentionally to annoy Moira?”

Hana made a kissy face in the mirror as she applied her lipstick. _“Nooo.”_

“Right, well, she said she’s gonna smash your record player if you keep it up.”

“She did??”

“Yeah. So continue at your own risk.”

“Aww. Fine, I’ve got another song.” She moved the needle and settled it onto another part of the record.

_“Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock…”_

“Okay, I’m leaving now. Dinner’ll be ready soon, and the cookies sometime after that.”

“Okay! Later, gator!”

By the time dinner was served everyone who could eat was ravenous. Junker Hana had already devoured the majority of Sombra’s gingerbread house, much to Sombra’s dismay, but she was clearly ready for more. She grabbed up her fork and knife and dove into the closest platter the moment Fareeha set it down.

All the multiverse Hanas sat at the second table with Symmetra and otherverse Fareeha. They were as loud and rambunctious as Satya had described them, but it was hard to be too annoyed by such a weirdly adorable bunch.

This universe’s Hana sat at the table between Satya and Fareeha, with Ana and Sombra across from her and Widowmaker and Moira at opposite ends of the table. Repeatedly the thought struck Fareeha, _This is such a weird assortment of guests._ Moira was pleasant enough on the outside, but something about her still made Fareeha’s skin crawl. And despite her staying with them for several weeks now Fareeha knew next to nothing about this Widowmaker. It was almost like she was supposed to be a bigger part of their story, but got cut due to time restraints.

She didn’t like to talk to either of them.

“So, Sombra,” Moira spoke up during a lull in conversation. Sombra immediately froze. “When will we be leaving?”

For a long time Sombra said nothing, and Fareeha could only guess she was warring with herself whether or not to try to joke her way out of the situation. In the end she must have chosen seriousness – a rarity for her.

“I guess after everything’s over tonight.”

“Perhaps after dinner?”

“Sure. Whatever.”

After her first encounter with Moira and their subsequent agreement Sombra had changed her mind about wanting presents. _“I can’t take them with me anyway,”_ she’d said. _“Spend your money on Hana.”_

Little did Sombra know that Hana, aware of the situation, had insisted to Fareeha and Satya that she didn’t want any presents either.

Satya was keeping quiet. Fareeha knew she must have been feeling guilty as all hell, especially since she could feel every bit of Sombra’s turmoil.

Surprising everyone at the table, Moira said, “You know you’ll be able to visit them, right?”

Sombra lifted her head. “What?”

“You’ll be an advisor to an angel or a reaper. They come to this world all the time. You’ll be able to visit while you’re here.”

Sombra’s aura brightened. “I didn’t think of that.”

“And on top of that, these three will be reapers when they die. Play your cards right and you could request a transfer to work with them.”

“Oh yeah.” Sombra’s eyes were glowing. “I could!” They dimmed, however, as she added, “Um, but I don’t know if they’d want me hanging around them forever.”

“I wouldn’t mind.” Hana offered her a small smile. “I mean, you’re annoying, and your taste in music is shit, but I consider you a friend.”

“You…do?” She quickly wiped the emotion off her face and smirked. “Ha, I knew you were as much of a sap as Satya and Fareeha. But really, who can resist me? I’m just soo loveable.”

“Riiight.”

They spent the rest of their meal chatting, Sombra’s spirits visibly lifted. When night fell, though, it was clear she was still harboring some sadness.

“Time to go,” Moira said, taking Sombra by the arm.

“I know. Gimme a minute.”

Moira exhaled, but let Sombra drift over to Hana, Satya and Fareeha.

“Hey, uh”–her voice cracked a little, though she tried to hide it–“someone’s gotta play all those games we pre-ordered. Think you can handle it without my incredible skills?”

Hana bit her lip and nodded.

“Yeah, you’ll be able to do it. And I’ll visit whenever I can. Check up on you…make sure you’re not stuck on any stupid puzzles or anything.”

“Of course.”

She then floated up to Fareeha’s level. They stared each other down for a moment, neither saying a word.

Finally Sombra cleared her throat and shrugged. “I mean, if you two weren’t dating I totally would’ve banged her.”

Fareeha nodded, staring past her. “I’m very aware of that.”

“But I respect you, so, y’know.” With that she turned her attention to Satya, who looked less than amused. “Thanks for taking on all my emotional baggage these past few months. It’s really helped me feel liberated knowing someone else has to deal with all the stupid emotions I conjure up.”

“Goodbye, Sombra,” was all Satya would say.

“Nah, it’s not ‘goodbye’. I’ll be back. I’ll be like that kid who keeps moving back home every few months.”

Hana snickered, giving Sombra all the reaction she apparently needed. With a grin she did a finger gun gesture at the three of them and drifted over to Moira. “All right, let’s go I guess. On to…whatever.”

Hana waved goodbye to her as Sombra followed Moira into a wide, glowing portal at the far end of the room. “ _Hey,”_ they heard her begin as they were disappearing into the light, “ _so what’s the protocol for dating in the afterlife? I’m, like, really lonely, and I’m bi, so it’s not like I’m short on potential options. I’m just wondering if it’s, like, still a thing on the other side, or…”_

Eventually they faded away into nothingness, as if they were never there to begin with.

Fareeha looked down at Hana, who stared at the blank wall for several seconds after they disappeared.

“You regret not doing that?”

“No.” Hana stood up on her tiptoes to nuzzle Fareeha’s cheek with her own. “I’m glad to be here.”

“I’m glad you’re here, too, squirt.”

“I think Sombra will do just fine in the next life. I mean, you think that too, right?”

”Seems like nothing really gets her down. So, yeah. I think she’ll be fine.”

Satya leaned in and gave Hana a light kiss on the hair, then pecked Fareeha on the cheek. “We should see the others off,” she said softly.

“Yeah. Let’s do that.”


End file.
